The day after the Thanksgiving feast was pretty good. We loaded the kids up in the mini-van and headed to the Plaza for lunch and shopping. Always a fun experience to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Anyway, we ended up cutting the shopping short and hit the Kona Grill for lunch. I decided to get some sushi for an appetizer and my oldest niece seemed very interested. I'm still not sure she understood the concept of "raw fish", but she was truly intrigued by the chopsticks. I was more than a little offended that she didn't want to use the same end of the chopsticks that I had. This from the same little girl who doesn't mind sharing her food/silverware with the dogs. I guess Duke and Jamie are more "immediate" family.
This picture shows just one more reason I'm not moving back to the mid-west in the near future. I don't think there are a whole lot of tornado shelters at the Sacramento airport. For a semi-major metropolitan area, Kansas City has a truly podunk airport. It's nice and clean, but there is only one (1) lounge, and it's outside security. What kind of crap is that? That can seriously cut into your airport drinking time if you have to worry about making it through security. Not that Dad, Sheila and I didn't give it our best shot.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Friday, November 25, 2005
Happy Thanksgiving!
Made a quick trip to Kansas City for Thanksgiving. My sister was making her first turkey dinner and I didn't want to miss out. These were the centerpieces, made by Hannah and Shelby. Alas, the centerpieces didn't last past the holiday weekend. One of the Mr. Potato Heads ended up as the star in a modified game of "hot potato" in the back yard. The modified part was Shelby throwing the potato as far as she could and one of the dogs chasing it. Poor Mr. Potato Head.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Are You Ready For Some Football?
I've spent a lot of nights in a lot of bars, but the Powerhouse in Folsom is the only place where you are guaranteed a chick in a bikini for Monday Night Football. "Denise" is there for the half-time putting contest (don't ask) and she's collecting names and phone numbers for some sort of "raffle". Personally, I think she's some sort of spy for the Department of Homeland Security collecting information on how many degenerate drunk losers are available for the draft if "needed". It's usually just me and Ken on Monday night but we managed to talk the girls into joining us tonight. We promised them pizza. FYI, Chicago Fire has the best pizza in Folsom and they deliver to the Powerhouse. They're actually connected and there's a special phone that you call your order in from. Kind of like the bat-phone. Anyway, pizza was good, beer service was marginal but we'll probably be back next week. They have the best hi-def TV I've ever seen. And there will probably be a bikini-clad chick.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Champagne + O.J. = Tasty!
Greetings from balmy Orangevale, CA. This picture doesn't do much to show my very expensive dental work (think "pimp my grill" suburban-style; white, straight and a complete absence of flash), but it does show the wonders of Northern California weather. It also shows that I'm bald, but I'm blaming that on the poor lighting. Damn sun. Today is November 20th, 5 days before Thanksgiving, and we were having brunch on the patio is short sleeves. Drinking monster, bottomless mimosas. On the way back to the car after another great meal at the Balcony Bistro, Rachelle saw that we had missed the Folsom Winterfest yesterday. Damn! I'm finding it's really hard to get in the mood for a "winter" party when it's sunny and 72. I know there are people who say they'd miss a place where the seasons change, blah, blah, blah. People who say that have either never lived someplace with good weather or they've just moved to the place with the crappy weather and it's still "neat". Screw that. I've lived in those places. I remember keeping a snow shovel in the trunk of my car so I could dig myself out after work. I remember clearing the snow off the driveway just to find half an inch if ice that needed to be chipped off. Ahhh, the memories! If I want to re-live my mid-western youth, I can always drive to Tahoe. Or I could get a snow-globe. Whatever.
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Eau de Toilet
It was our fifth anniversary yesterday, so Rachelle and I decided to head down to San Francisco. We both checked Yahoo! weather before we left and the forecast was sunny and mid-60's. Hmmm. Note the umbrella in the picture ($2.99 from a shop in Chinatown). Not really "sunny" per se, but still a great day in the city. First stop, after the $6/hour parking spot, was the Buena Vista for Irish Coffee. If you ever get a chance to visit S.F., make sure you hit the Buena Vista. It's supposed to be the first place in the U.S. to make and serve Irish Coffee, and watching the bartender make it is part of the fun. And the drink rocks. After lunch at a great little place in North Beach (Trattoria Volare), we figured we'd better head back fairly early to beat the Friday traffic out of town. Too late. Apparently, there is no good time to beat the traffic. Anyway, we made it back to Orangevale in time for Bo's dinner, which made him really happy. I'd like to say he missed us, but he was only interested in dinner. And his after dinner treat. Pretty shallow. Once Bo was taken care of, I took Rachelle out for a nice dinner to show my appreciation for her agreeing to marry me. I'd like to put a plug in for the Balcony Bistro in Old Folsom. This place has only been open for a couple of months, and they only have one waiter and about twelve tables, but the chef doesn't seem to have a bad recipe in his cookbook. I would definitely recommend the crab cake appetizer, but I couldn't even begin to tell you what entree to pick. Everything we've had there is outstanding, and it's nothing you will find in any other restaurant in the Sacramento area. Also, the waiter told us that the mimosa's during brunch on the weekend includes free refills. Sweet! All in all, a good anniversary. Five down, forty-five to go. I figure if I make it to our fiftieth, Rachelle will be too senile to cut me loose. Or I'll be too senile to know. Works for me.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Workin' Hard or Hardly Workin'?
It's been another wicked-long day at the office. My conference call started at 8:00 and lasted until almost 10:00. Brutal! AND there were no donuts. There actually were donuts, but they were left over from Friday and I wasn't feeling that brave. At least I still had some Halloween candy on my desk. Trick or treat!
Friday, November 04, 2005
Vegas, baby!
Ahhh, the glamour of business travel. Rental-car shuttles, hours of waiting in the crap-ass Vegas airport, what's not to love. The trip started out well enough. When I tried to check in at my original hotel the desk clerk got a weird look on her face and disappeared for 5 minutes. I was getting worried that somebody had booked my room with a stolen credit card. Turns out, my room wasn't available. Wouldn't BE available this trip. Not good. Until she appologized and offered to comp my night at the Four Seasons. OK. If she was going to insist. My room at the Four Seasons was bigger than my first apartment. Hell, it was bigger than any apartment I ever lived in. And cleaner. Ten years of travelling to Vegas and I had never been propositioned by a "working girl" until I was in the elevator headed back to my room last night. I actually shouldn't assume they were pro's, but one was wearing a skirt shorter than my underwear and they asked if I "wanted to party". Probably pro's. That kind of crap never happened at the Howard Johnson. Needless to say, I politely declined. They probably wouldn't have been happy with the $65.75 I won at the slots. Actually, this wasn't a bad trip. The only reason I'm so cranky right now is the Vegas airport only seems to have one functioning lounge and it's jammed. Bastards. Oh,well. I can always get a tiny drink on the flight home.
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