So I had my last work lunch at Orlondo's with Matt today, and then we all (Matt, me, Brandon, Charity, Kevin, and Mark) came back and a little while had cake and cookies in the break room.
Matt is a big loss to my company, and I'm worried about our ability to respond to network security related things when he goes. He says that he needs a change of scenery, although he had to think about it long and hard, since he has so many friends here.
*sigh*
I'll miss him at work a lot.
On the news this evening, during weather, they quoted an interesting statistic...
During the last 11 days, we've had an average of 55 minutes of sunshine per day...
That's not a lot...
So Saturday, late morning, we headed towards Cedar Rapids, yet again. The traffic was thick at places, but still allowed me mostly to keep my speed at the level where I like it (about 10 over). We stopped at my parents, dropped off a CD of the pictures that I took the previous weekend, and picked up a can of mashed potatoes (Shannon says they are the best dried mashed potatoes that she's had), which my mom said I could take the previous weekend, but I forgot, headed over to Shannon's Parents, dropped of a CD of pictures and then Shannon and her mom started to look for some old videos and pictures of Shannon's childhood, so I sat down to watch the ISU game.
After a while they got done looking and found some of what they were looking for and we headed towards the Mattas.
So we gave the Matta's a CD of the pictures I took for christmas, and settled in.
Both Nathan and Jenny weren't feeling the best, from what they ate for lunch (although Jenny was just not feeling good since she's about to give birth), but they still made us a very nice dinner of Chicken and a pilaf, I think, but it was quite tastey. We talked about cooking stuff...or at least I did. The dinner was very good, the chicken very tender and the buckwheat (?) pilaf good...interesting to say the least.
They put Taylor to bed and a while later people started to show up for a quiet, reserved, new years eve. I had my bottle of Laphroaig 15 year old Whiskey and a bottle of Godiva Chocolate Liquor for Shannon...Over the night, Wade, Clif, Bret, Scott (all friend from High School), Clif's girlfriend, and Bret's Wife and new child were all there and we had a fun time, chatting, some card playing (bridge mostly), some Game Cube playing, and it was fun. There were a lot of appitizers (lots provided by Jenny's mom), that were pretty good. At midnight we had a champagne toast where I am fairly certain I had my first New Year's kiss...Shortly after midnight, Jenny called it a night and the rest of the Party kinda decided to go too.
Sunday, we got up and eventually headed towards Chucky Cheese, for Shawny's 6th birthday party. We stopped by Panera to eat (last time I ate at chucky cheese I had indigestion for hours). We were still running early and then decided to wander around Lindale Mall...which I remember being much bigger when I was younger. I thought a walk to the end of the mall and back would probably burn the time to the Party...It didn't.
So we were headed to the lower level of the mall (which is a tiny area, not over the entire mall) and on the escalator I was standing right behind Shannon and this guy was standing right behind me...and he kinda followed us as we wandered around the lower level, even into the store that we went into. Shannon needed to go to the bathroom, so I kidna stood guard at the door and waited for the guy to come down the hallway... He didn't. Apprently I was just being paranoid.
After wandering into Radioshack, and a not very good kitchen and coffee store (their selection of kitchen stuff was very lackluster), we headed out and across the street to Chucky Cheese.
In talking about the previous party they described the place as being pretty much empty. However, it was very busy, kids and adults everywhere. It was kidna annoying. Apprently last year, the reason why it wasn't so busy, was because it was during the middle of an ice storm. So...uh... Anyways, there were lots of grandparents, a few friends and us (more adults then kids) and it was fun. there was a pile of presents and a kid's parent whom I vaguely remember from Kennedy...but I wasn't sure enough to ask.
After pizza and cake we played a few games, won Shawny some tickets and then headed back to the Matta's after making our good byes.
Jenny's mom came over to babysit Taylor and we all headed out to Chili's to have dinner with Clif and his girlfriend. The food was ok, nothing really memorable, other then the bleu cheese hamburger which was also supposed to have the taste of chipotle, had no taste of chipotle. After Dinner, Jenny was getting uncomfortable, since the chairs weren't very comfortable, and we headed over to Panera to hang out...
It was Closed...
Then we headed over to Barnes and Nobel to get some tea or coffee and sit on some comfortable couches and hang out...No couches availble.
So we ended up at Perkins and sat and chatted for a little while longer. A little adult conversation for Jenny, I think made her feel better. After a while, we headed back to the Mattas and Played some Trivial Pursuit 20th anniversery edition.
Intially Jenny pulled out way ahead of everyone else, but then had trouble getting her last piece (Sports and Games) eluded her, and after getting to the center and not getting the win several times, she went to bed. After a while, I think Nathan finally won, but the rest of us had all our pieces and were looking to win, and then Shannon went to bed. Nathan setup to play some World of Warcraft, and I was gonna watch, but apprently his wireless connection dumped him, so I went to bed. It looked neat for what was there, but again, I've banned myself from playing a game like that (It'd take up way to much of my life and piss Shannon off). But Nathan did make a good point, in that when he logged on, Wade, Bret, and Scott were on (Wade left and clif got on a bit later)...but it's a good way to spend time with the friends having fun together...since it's hard for him to get time together to spend time with friends (between work and family, there's not a whole lot of time left).
The next morning was pretty lazy, spent napping, watching some Dora the Explorer (1 episode) with Taylor and a nice breakfast.
Around 3:30 we packed up and at around 4 we headed towars home.
6 of 10 days were spent in CR, it was nice to get home and sleep in our own bed.
Of course, we're going to CR this weekend too, although only for a few hours on Sunday, for a wedding show (which I don't have to go to, since Shannon's going with her mom and sister). So I'll be there again anyways, with a few hours to wait for Shannon to be done. Hopefully, at least for Jenny's sake, Nathan and Jenny's daughter will be born some time this week, so I can see it :)
So last night my older brother Hyrum, his wife Diane, their two boys Spencer and Dallin, and my younger sister Alissa, arrived around 4 or 4:30 yesterday, I had all my errends done and was well on my way to to preparing for the meal. The meal consisted of:
I got distracted a few times during the cooking process, showing Alissa the house, helping Spencer and Dallin some video games, so I didn't get the meatloaf in when I wanted, so the sides were done well before the meatloaf. I have to keep remembering that the directions that I have are a bit off on the time and tempature that it takes to make it the way I like (and so that the meat thermometer says that it's ok to eat). We had to pull an extra chair from downstairs and extend a leaf on the table, so that I could seat all 7 of us. The only help that I really had was I made Hyrum mash the potatoes.
Other then the meatloaf being late, dinner went over pretty well. I got good complements on the food and the bread, although it did break my heart a little when catsup was placed on some of my food (and the bread from La Mie). But they are kids, what can you do?
Also, cause I washed my hands so many times during the night, they actually became quite dry.
I took 'em all out to get some Gellato at the Stam on 42nd Street. I think it was well enjoyed.
Dallin and Spencer have a lot of energy. Running in circles around the main level of the house, playing with cars, scaring Shannon and myself, making us realize how much breakable stuff we actually have. A little after dinner people started heading to bed. Alissia called a gentleman she apprently has been seeing, and he called her right back, saving me money, which is nice, though I guess I wouldn't have much cared if she would've just kept it on my tab.
Sometime during the night, Hyrum's family gave us our present, which they had wrapped up a copy of Charlie and the Chocloate Factory...which, as was previously noted, we had already gotten twice. Apprently Hyrum and Diane had also gotten it twice and Hyrum and Alissa thought it would be funny to give it to us again. Then after the joke was told, they gave us a nice gift certificate to Bed Bath and Beyond. Which was nice too.
While cooking and later when Diane went to bed, Hyrum and I talked about various things, his work, my work, and what not. It was kinda nice.
In the morning, I made Shannon and myself breakfast and then she headed off to work. After another hour, Hyrum got up, and another hour or so after that. Breakfast consisted of FrenchToast (made from Cinnamon Swirl bread from Big Sky Bread Company in Urbandale, La Mie only cooks Challa on the weekend, apprently), scrambled eggs, bacon and eggs. I bought hashbrowns, but apprently I forgot about them. It went over pretty well. I ran out of French Bread stuff when everyone was full, basically no leftovers.
After breakfast cleanup, it was late enough, I played a little Mario Party with Hyrum, Spencer and Dallin. I was interrupted by a page from work...and then a little bit later I took Alissa to the Airport and while Shannon was home for lunch, Hyrum and his family left too...and then we got to relax a little in our house, before Shannon had to go back to work.
There were a few broken things (some from George), a few things that were taken off the tree that shouldn't have been, and a scratch on the coffee table...Oh well it's family and they are rambunxious little boys.
So earlier tonight, I had to make a Target run to get a new stack of CD's so that I could burn off pictures from Christmas for people, and I found the 70th Anniversery edition of Monopoly for 75% off...mmm...10$ so of course I had to buy it...
Gracie still hasn't left our bedroom, having the company has freaked her out, she doesn't do so well with people. She's sleeping on the bed with Shannon now, so that's better then the under the bed, like she has been. We purposfully closed the door to the other bedroom before they came, so she wouldn't try to hide under there, cause I think she would've been really freaked out by that.
Anyways...good two days...
Shannon came home last night with a drastically changed hair cut. She went to salon that she had reccommended her by a co-worker. I did balk a little when she told me how much it cost (I gave her the money that her dad gave me and she had the money that her dad gave her and it was more then that). But has trouble believing me when I tell her she looks pretty (She has said that she thinks I'd find her pretty in a potato sack). I dunno about all that, but I did have trouble keeping my eyes off her all night...so...she should take that as a hint (she even commented on it).
Made home made mac and cheese a couple of days ago. It was good...needs a bit more sauce and less bay leaf...it was even good reheated in the microwave (had it for lunch today). It was a lot easier then I thought it'd be, although it dirtys more pans then you do when you make box mac, but it has a lot less salt...
My older brother, his family, and one of my younger sisters are coming down tonight. Alissa is flying out tomarrow, and so they thought they should stop by and visit (for longer then 30 mintes). I'm gonna cook 'em dinner and breakfast too. For dinner we're going to have veal and lamb meatloaf (mmm...baby animals), and real mashed potatoes. I'm also gonna pick up some bread from La Mie. For breakfast I'm gonna make some french toast (with Challah from La Mie) along with bacon and sausage...maybe I need some potatoes there too...
I'm taking work off tomarrow...so today is my last day of work for the year....mmm...no worky. I got all the things that I needed to do done, or am at least waiting on other people to get back to me.
I got me a bottle of Laphroaig 15 year old Whiskey. I'm taking it to CR for the tiny little quiet new years celebration at the Matta's. So no ending up passed out on the kitchen floor.
I've been playing a new playlist that was suggested to me by Brandon. It's been kinda fun. It's songs with a 4 or 5 star rating (out of 5) that haven't been played in 2 months. Some of the songs I've been shocked that I've not heard them in that long (Been Caught Stealing), and other's have gotten demoted to 3 star status. But it's kinda nice to go through.
In this entry I stated my goals for the year.
Here are them in review:
Measurable:
1. Setup weight bench (the replacement for the oft broken excersize bicycle)
I ended up getting rid of the bench, since it was taking up too much room and it was also missing pieces...lots of pieces...jackholes.
2. Start using weigh bench on a regular basis
Kinda hard to do considering the thing was missing parts
3. Expand walking distance, start to run on parts of it
I did do this, I was walking 2 miles, when winter came I was up to 2.6 miles, however I didn't run much (hurt knees).
4. Get to more music events
I made it to quite a few shows this year, including Atmosphere, Fall out Boy, and etc. This is even true with the couple of shows that cancelled on me this year (Ween, Queens of the Stoneage).
6. Listen to more and a wider variaty of music.
Listened to more Jazz, hip-hop, and etc. Still a slow year for buying music, cause not a whole lot said you must buy me.
7. Take more pictures, friends, family and the world around me.
My pictures have increased drastically since I bought the new camera. So much so that I'm concerned about space now.
8. Cook, bake and etc more.
I now bake something about every other month or so (on avg, some months more, other months none). I cook for Shannon and I probably 7-8 times a week (some breakfasts and lunches).
Not as measureable:
1. Be more honest with myself and others.
I think I have been, as evidenced by a few events this year.
2. Be a better friend.
This has been better true, trying to think of more then just myself, and being more considerate (thank you cards/gifts for staying at a friends), Helping people move, when they need it. Although there are things that do make it tougher to do, since I don't have as much free time as I used to.
So the car was full, even before we put ourselves in it. And after Shannon got home from work, we finished the preperation and headed out. After a short stop to top off the tank and pick up some drinks, we headed towards Cedar Rapids on Christmas Eve Day.
Traffic was bad in spots, but not so bad that it slowed me down too much. There was a SUV that loved to tailgate that followed me for 20 minutes or so.
We stopped by my parents, dropped off our presents for that house, said hi to all the people there and then headed over to the Matta's to drop off our luggage. They weren't home but the door was unlocked and so we took our things right up to the spare bedroom and then headed back towards the Blocklinger's.
We got there and join Shannon's parents were watching a Duke marathon on the TV and we joined them until Shannon's sister's family got there. Sheighleigh was dress in a very cute Christmas, and Sean was very handsome in his outfit.
For me, I was thinking more people were going to come over, cause there were piles of presents, but I was mistaken. Which amazed me.
We had a nice dinner of soups (chili (pretty good) and chicken noodle (very good)). Some rolls and some bread that my younger brother Jed had me take along, along with cheese, pickle wraps, wraps, cinnamon chips with a fruit salsa, along with Lefse covered in cinnamon and sugar and baked.
It was a good meal. Shawn was very excited to get to the opening of the presents. We got to it, and it was quite a diffrent experience for what I was used too. They passed out the Christmas stockings (first one of the weekend) and I got a couple of cookbooks and other things and I was flipping through the cookbooks before I realized that people were kind of waiting for me.
We went on to the presents. Shawn and Sheighleigh got many toys and outfits, I gave Shannon a Lalique Crystal Cat and Shannon got me the wine bottle opener that I wanted (like the one that Chris has). It basically makes the wine bottle super easy to open and hard to mess up. We also got a stained glass claddagh that Shannon's mother made for us (it's huge), so that'll soon be hanging in the large window in the living room. Shannon's parents seemed to like the presents we got them, which is cool :) We also got the majority of our christmas lists bought for use...which was kinda shocking to me...I suppose it's easier to do when you have two kids and their familys rather then 9 kids and their family. But yeah it was tough to get used to. Kim got Shannon a bunch of soaps and things that she made. That was cool too.
We talked for a while afterwards, and the kids started to play and we (Mike, Kim, Shannon and I), ended up playing the TV version of Scene It. Mike led through most of the game, with me trailing behind everyone, until I finally found what I was good at (Jingles, slogans, and music). It came down to the wire, and due to a hard question, and then one that Shannon knew right off, Shannon came in first and I came in second.
Somewhere in there we had pie, and I had a small piece of three pies, all of which were good (rasberry, pumpkin and a chocolate cheesecake, I think).
A little while later I helped make load up the present's in their min-van, and then we loaded up our things and headed back to the Matta's.
Buy the time that we got there, Taylor was down for the night and Nathan and Jenny were painting Taylor's new room (her current room will be the baby's room). It had bright colors and Taylor's favorite thing, Butterflys. It was pretty neat. So we chatted for a while and after they were done painting for the night, moved downstairs and continued chatting. Eventually we headed to bed.
I woke up in the morning to the sounds of Christmas morning at the Matta's. I headed downstairs and took pictures of Taylor opening up presents and playing. She went very slowly and would open something and play with it for quite a while. Jenny's mom showed up with more present's for Taylor. And then Shannon joined us. To our surprise, when they passed out Christmas stockings, we had one too (2nd one of the weekend). It was very nice had some chocolate, candy and a loofah and a couple of other things. It was really nice of Santa to also visit us at the Matta's. Nathan then make a great breakfast of french toast (made of challah from La Mie), and bacon, and sausage, with peach and strawberry reductions as syrup. Quite yummy. We got ready for the day and then looked at the clock and saw that my parents were about to leave for Church, so we stayed around for another hour and then headed over to my parents.
We got there before my family had gotten back from church, so we looked at a few things, took some pictures, I tried to show Shannon the Santa face with the beard made out of wintergreen lifesavers, but I found out later that since mom doesn't really have anyone around that is really interested in doing that anymore. It kinda made me sad. We had the gift exchange of what was left over (my family does most of the present opening on Christmas eve) so we missed out on most of the gifts opened. But we did get to see my parents open our gifts and see Brent and Emily's internal family open their gifts. And then we got our final gift exchange between Shannon and I, where I got her a big bottle of the purfume that she likes (and I do too, yes it is a little self serving) and she got me Kill Bill vol 1 and 2 (which she had remembered from a long time ago that I wanted them). We also got, in Shannon's Stocking another copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, so we re-gifted it it to Emily's family, since that's what Santa would've wanted.
We got called for dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravey, fruit salad, lefse (prepare your own...mmm...an excuse to eat sugar and butter), bread made by my brother Jed. Shannon got a bit confused (which at a Kurth dinner is easy to do) since things can get quite confusing, reaching not passing in a uniform manner and the fact that there is 14 or so of us. Dinner was good and it just kinda shows how much I miss mom's cooking. After dinner, I wanted to take a nap, but Shannon wouldn't let me, so eventually we played a game of Settler's of Cataan with My brother in law Brent (the physics one), my sister in law Stephanie and my little brother Isaac. It was a good time. Shannon built little buildings out of the pieces to the game. It was fun. Stephanie eventually won. A little while after that we headed back to the Matta's.
We ended up chatting with the Matta's pretty late into the night, so late that Shannon went to bed before Jenny, Nathan and I were finished.
On Monday, we woke up and got ready for the day, and around 11 we headed out to get some lunch and then headed over to Shannon's grandmother's house over in Marion. It was an interesting experience and there were a lot of neat glassworks/salt n pepper shakers that I would like to look at closer one day (kinda hard to do when kids are running around). We chatted, Kim and Mike's family showed up. Opened more present's. Shannon's Grandma seemed to be pretty happy with the glass manger scene that we got her. We took a bunch of pictures and chatted some more and eventually we headed off.
We then met up with Richard, Wade, Nathan, Jenny, Taylor, and eventually Dan at applebees and just hung out, ate a little and chatted and around 4:30 or so, we headed out to our cars. Shannon then noticed that there was another blue RSX Type S right across the parking lot from mine and so we commented on it, and it turns out it was dan's...but two model years earlier. I just found that funny. So then Shannon and I headed home and then plopped on the couch.
Oh...and to those of you whom I told I'd put pictures up online so you could download 'em all...yeah...that won't so much work since they won't compress at all, so I'll take a CD or three of them back to Cedar Rapids, so you can get them....
Anways good christmas, lotta fun, lotta new traditions, lotta loot, and Maybe the last time we'll see Jenny pregnant (she may give birth this week). Oh yeah...we also gave Jenny a Chocolate baby carridge :-) She had a huge chocolate haul (from us, from nathan and from her mom). 3 Stockings, lots of presents, lots of fun, and lots of family.
So since the kittys will be guarding the home by theirselves, we decided to give them their presents tonight. Each cat got 3 presents of their own and one present to share. Both seem to like all the gifts. Gracie really seemed to like her little catnip holding teddy bear. It was cute and fun as we got ready to head to our parents for Christmas.
For dinner, we headed over to Beyond the Grain on 63rd street just past Grand. It replaces the Nosh Kosher Deli (which was pretty good), and fills up the place in a similar fashion. Beyond the Grain specializes in gluten free food. Which is good, since there quite a few people that have Celiac disease. Courtney had been there earlier in the week (it opened this past Monday), and gave it a good review. Things were nice and simple and clean, plates white. It kinda just gives the impression of purity, which is a good thing when dealing with people with food alerergies.
We ordered salads and then going to spilt a pizza. We had ground sirloin, goat cheese, and fresh tomatoes. The salads came out in white bowls and was a simple mix of fresh greens. I had a good honey mustard dressing on my salad and together the formed a nice, if basic, salad. Ocassionally a fairly old lady would come around and fill up our water glass, it almost made me feel bad, like I should get the pitcher of water from her and help fill up the glasses so she could go sit down or something.
Then the pizza came. It was good. The toppings were very good, the goat cheese espically, which made up for the crust being a little big soggy in the middle, while crisp on the edges. We both enjoyed it, and left full, for just under 25$ (including tip), which was not bad at all.
The place was also quite a bit busier then I thought it would be, which is good, cause it probably means that it'll be around for a while (yay! a resturant for Courtney!). It was kind of funny, cause when they asked if we were interested in dessert, we mentioned that we had some brownies from La Mie, and the I mentioned something about it was funny having dinner at a place all about the lack of wheat to some place all about the wheat, she got the humor and did think it was funny.
After wards, we headed towards Water Works Park and went to the Jolly Holiday lights. Which is basically a big Christmas light display that winds through the park. We took a lot of pictures as we slowly made our way throught he park. My feet got tired from all the pedal movement that had to be done to keep going at such a slow speed. At the end of the lights they had a tent that was protecting an ice palace and sculptures. It took quite a long time to get through the whole thing, but it certainlly good to at least do it (considering it's apprently one of the things to do around Christmas). We then headed out and drove around Beaverdale looking at the lights around our neighborhood.
I guess we're ready for Christmas.
That's right me! Well me and the rest of my team. We got recognized today at work. It was kinda nice. Mmmm...Pretty...
On Thursday on the Chris and Pat's Movie night we watched Dr. Strangelove. It was as good as I remember, we also had Nick N Willy's Take N Bake Pizza, which was pretty good.
We went and saw King Kong on Saturday night. It was pretty good. Probably one of the best remakes that I have seen. Certainly something fun to watch, even with it's serious undertones.
Sunday I baked brownies w/ the Stam Chocolate. They are good (I had a small sample this morning). Probably even richer then the ones that I normally make. For the recipie I'm thinking of altering it for the next time and using some white chocolate in some way or another.
Called the water works today, cause apprently we've only used just less then 100 cubic feet of water since they installed the new meter. They'll be coming out next friday morning to see what's going on... I guess it doesn't pay to be honest...
Today I picked up my new glasses...mmmm...glasses...so expensive. So that'll have to do for another 2 years or so.
I also headed out to Joseph's Jewelry's new store and bought Shannon a present. I also asked them about Nordic wedding spoons, and they said they'd look into it (not all of them are wooden). But we'll see.