Christmas

My work is generous and gives us 2 days off for Christmas, so mine started Wednesday night. We celebrated in the usual fashion, as Todd Wright hosted his annual Santa Clausterf*@k with a lot of area musicians. Since they don’t really rehearse, there were some trainwrecks, but overall a good show (and check out the TVs on stage, new this year).

stage

Thursday I had reserved for shopping. I started off driving down the toll road towards Tysons Corner. My sister wanted an L.L. Bean gift certificate, but looking at the traffic on Route 7, I headed west instead of east (I got her an email one instead). I did need to stop at Wolf Trap to pick up some tickets for Dad, then it was off to Manassas. In addition to picking up some books for Jill, I needed to get my car checked out as the check engine light. It only needed a firmware upgrade, but I had to wait a while for that. Next stop was Fair Lakes, and by the time I finished there, I was done (both physically and mentally).

Friday both Jill and I were off, but busy. I had a bunch of bookcases to fill, and she had some baking to do. Our friends Melanie and Scott were hosting a Christmas Eve party so we joined them for a while. Saturday was Christmas and we both slept in, then cleaned up. I baked a ham and made two sauces (pineapple and mustard), Jill made potatoes au gratin and my mom, dad and sister were soon there to help us make a sizable dent in all the food. The gift giving went well, everyone got something they wanted, but soon everyone was on there way, and Jill knitted and I read in front of the fire.

Sunday we met our friend Patty for lunch at Pho 75 in Herndon. Jill was feeling under the weather and it hit the spot. I watched a Skins game that I actually enjoyed in the afternoon, then made a Hollandaise sauce and we had artichokes and Eggs Benedict for dinner. We finally had time to watch some TV together after dinner – the season finale of Burn Notice was good, and the Christmas episode of Doctor Who was brilliant (one shark open sleigh – LOL).

Thanksgiving to now

After we got back from our trip, things got a little busier (if that’s possible). We did make time on Sunday the 21st to take in the new Harry Potter film in IMAX (our tradition, the only bad thing was we wanted to see Part 2 right away), then it was only 3 days of work for me until I got two days off for Thanksgiving. We spent most of the day at Mom’s or getting ready for that (Jill made mashed potatoes, turnips and rutabagas while I sauteed green beans and made sweet potato butter). We brought home most of the leftovers (no one else wanted that much) and got several more meals out of it. The rest of the weekend I spent in the basement, slowly getting the place in order (and catching up on TV – really liked The Walking Dead).

The next Tuesday I went bowling with coworkers for the first time in about 20 years. It was… interesting. Two gutter balls, followed by a strike, and then another gutter ball for good measure. That was the most social I got over the next couple weeks, as we continued to unpack and clean up (I was mostly still in the basement). We got a tree on December 5th, at eight feet the tallest I’ve ever had. Of course there’s something off with its base, and it fell three times over the next couple weeks (luckily always while I was home).

We had our annual holiday party on Saturday, December 11th. Jill was not sold when we were planning, but she also put a lot of effort into making the house look nice. We’d had the floors refinished before we went on vacation, and we got both the dining room and living room furniture delivered right before the party. We decorated and prepped the food that Saturday, and I had just started the Christmas tunes when our first guests arrived. We had about 15 people show over the night – the new house definitely doesn’t feel as full with that amount of people. It was fun, and the food was good (it mostly disappeared), and then it was midnight and everyone was gone.

We worked so furiously to get ready we’ve been slacking off since, but next week the rest of the bookshelves should be arriving, and I’d like to get everything ready by Christmas day as we’ll be hosting my family this year. We had our first snow of the year yesterday, and it’s so cold Lake Thoreau has already mostly frozen (the geese sit on top of the ice, or this morning I saw them in the one unfrozen section in the middle of the lake).

House hunting

The weekend was fairly low key, but we kept busy. Friday Jill was interested in going out but I’d worked late and was tired, and quickly grilled some sausages and then we watched TV.

Saturday morning we cleaned up the house as an appraiser was coming by. It didn’t take too long as we don’t have that much stuff out right now, then I ran some errands (shredding papers, book sale, Free Comic Book Day and groceries).

That afternoon we looked at houses at Lake Anne and took a walk around part of the lake. We went to Charlie Chiang’s at Worldgate for dinner – hadn’t been there in a while and they’d remodeled a bit. The food is mostly the same: buffet/Mongolian, always a very filling meal for me.

Later that night we watched Hamlet starring Patrick Stewart and David Tennant – great performances indeed, but I don’t think either of us would really enjoy seeing Shakespeare performed live, it’s as if it’s in a language you barely remember.

Sunday we continued our tour through the Reston lakes. We’d been to Lake Newport a couple weeks back to look at one place, this time we hit Lakes Thoreau and Audubon. One on Lake Thoreau we kinda dismissed immediately, then the idea of it grew on us – we may make an offer on it (it’s 7 miles away from our current house).

In the late afternoon we headed down into our nice cool basement and packed books until we finally ran out of boxes. I never get rid of boxes, and that had worked out pretty well for us, but we’ll have to get more now, at least 5-10 more for the books we have left.

We had Stuart and Olivia over for dinner – Janice was meeting friends. The thought occurred to us that it would be a shame if we didn’t host anyone with the house looking as nice as it does, and they didn’t have plans. I grilled chicken fajitas and the sides while Jill whipped up guacamole, then we had a nice dinner.

How to sell a house while vacationing in Disney World, part 1

I was up past 6AM on Saturday the 17th, packing books until I ran out of packing tape. Then I slept for a couple hours and joined Jill on final cleanup. Pictures had been taken the Monday before as Jill shadowed the photographer moving things around so he had a clean shot, then we’d continued to pack all week. The listing went up Friday night and there was an agent coming by at 11AM Saturday morning (first of seven), and we worked furiously to make the deadline. We did, and the agent arrived as we left with Illa. We dropped him at the kennel, then headed over to Manassas to trade in some books and ate lunch at China Jade – both of us had the buffet, quite decent as long as little kids don’t get their hands on them as one was doing to the desserts.

We ran some more errands, getting home around 5:30 (all the agents had left). I had just taken a shower and was relaxing and watching TV when another agent called, so we left again. When we got back I wasn’t in the mood to do much more than make dinner, while I was doing that Jill arranged the new things she’d purchased and kept packing. We finally relaxed after dinner – she packed and went to sleep while I stayed up packing, watching TV and surfing. There was a lot I wanted to get through and stayed up pretty late again.

Sunday morning we were out by 8AM for our taxi (the open house was scheduled for that afternoon) and soon we were at Dulles. We had a quick trip through security and finally got to ride the train to the gates (it’s so much better than the people movers). It was at the gates that I went by the Five Guys and made a marvelous discovery: if they’re open in the morning, they serve egg sandwiches and you can top it with a burger patty, still one of my favorite meals. Then we made our first (and likely not our last, as long as the first bag’s free) trip on JetBlue, a nice smooth flight into Orlando. After we got our bags, we waited for Disney’s Magical Express and were soon joining the rest of the family at Saratoga Springs Resort.

We plan our vacations far in advance with help of our resort club, and Jill had wanted to take her immediate family on a trip for a while. Now that everyone was living stateside, planning was easier and we decided to aim for the kids’ spring break. So besides us it was Jill’s mom Sue, her husband Dave, Jill’s younger sister Robin, older sister Melissa, her husband Dominic, and their kids Madelyn, Jake, Tiernan, and Ava. They were almost done with checking in, so we did too and were soon at our rooms in Congress Park, the section of the resort closest to Downtown Disney. Madelyn, Robin, Jill, and I were hungry and walked over to The Artist’s Palette for lunch, where I had the turkey wrap and Jill had a hot dog. I also had the only authentic Saratoga item there: a Saratoga Lager.

After lunch our lack of sleep caught up to us, and we napped for a while. Sue and Melissa were out at Wal-Mart with Aunt Kelley (who dropped by as she winters there), and they picked up some pizzas. I wish they’d gotten the name of the place, as it was truly the worst pizza I’d ever had – and everyone agreed. Thankfully, it was the only bad meal of the week. The nap was helpful, but we were still tired and had a big week, so we watched The Simpsons with Robin, then went to sleep (I even skipped a concert at Epcot but it had started raining).

Melissa and Dominic

Monday morning we headed to Animal Kingdom – we’d already purchased tickets. The last time we visited, the parks had been fairly vacant, but not this time. So we took full advantage of Extra Magic Hours and that determined the order we visited the parks. First up was Kilimanjaro Safaris and that was good as all almost all the animals were awake, then Madelyn, Robin, Jill, and I took in Expedition Everest before meeting up with everyone at Kali River Rapids where we took turns riding and getting damp (even with ponchos).

Dominic, Melissa, Jake and Kerry

We gathered again and headed over to It’s Tough To Be A Bug with the three older kids (the boys loved it), then continued to Camp Minnie-Mickey to meet Disney characters. The older two (especially Jake) wanted autographs, and they all took pictures. Jake and I stayed behind when everyone else left to continue to get autographs.

Ava and Jake

We met up with Jill and Sue in the Boneyard playground, then got in line for Finding Nemo – The Musical. It took a while to get in, but it was pretty entertaining, a mix of Lion King and Avenue Q. Jill wasn’t feeling well (hadn’t been all day) and she went back to the resort. Sue, Jake, and I went over to Yak & Yeti for lunch where I had an appetizer explosion: Thai chili wings, pork egg rolls, and wok fried green beans along with a Safari Amber (surprising to learn it was from Anheuser-Busch because it was good). Rain was threatening when we finished so we left the park.

Jill was asleep and I joined her as I was tired. We woke up for a bit, and I checked email to learn we’d gotten two offers on the house, both more than $10K less then the listing price. I called our agent and arranged to counter the higher offer, then we snacked before Jill headed back to bed and Robin and I explored Downtown Disney to get a lay of the land, find some stores and a sweatshirt for her. We took our time getting back waiting for the boat shuttle around Downtown Disney then another one back to the resort.

Tuesday was another early day, this time we headed to Epcot. Once in we headed directly to Test Track, where some folks rode it twice. We went directly from there to Soarin’, but they already had a long wait so we picked up a Fastpass for everyone, then went next door to Honey I Shrunk The Audience (still pretty fun). Jake wanted more autographs, so Dominic and I went with him to get some.

Jake and Dominic

We met up with everyone at Sunshine Seasons (the cafe next to Soarin’) where folks who hadn’t had breakfast yet did, then took on Soarin’. Jake decided last minute it wasn’t for him, so he and Dominic ducked out. It was pretty fun, but it’s not good if you’re afraid of heights. After that, Dominic, Jake, and I headed over to Innoventions to play some games. Lunch was with everyone at the Rose and Crown. Jill and I split a salad then both got fish and chips, very good choice. We met up with Alice and got some adult slushies on the way out.

Jill, Sue, Robin, and Madelyn

Once again it was nap time after we returned. Sue and Dave had stayed at Epcot, and Robin, Jill, and I joined them again for dinner at Nine Dragons. I wasn’t that hungry after a big lunch and had the cucumber salad and sliced beef appetizers while Jill enjoyed the Kung Pao chicken. They stayed to watch fireworks while I went back to the resort – it turns out Melissa is also a Lost fan and it was the only show I wanted to watch all week (good, but not as good as the Hurley ep the week before). We got to enjoy the hot tub after Robin and Jill got back.

Kerry, Jill, Robin, Sue, and Dave

Party, etc.

Friday night I was ready for a break, so after some TV hooked up my old NES last night and played Super Mario and other games until my thumbs hurt (got to 5-4). I was surprised about how many of the other games don’t hold up (well, Castlevania II was decent).

Saturday I slept in a long time, over 10 hours. Then I took Illa for a nice walk, our contractor came over to finish his work, and I desecrated a Reuben (by adding a fried egg). At 7, we walked over to the Jewells for Stuart’s 50th birthday party. Music was provided by Mercy Creek, and food by Patrick Crump, Janice’s brother and executive chef at The Clarendon Ballroom. Both music and food were fabulous, and a good evening held by all.

Mercy Creek

Today was more packing, cleanup outside, a little open house visiting and surfing, followed by a packaged beef and broccoli for dinner followed by Simpsons -> Family Guy. Simpsons is on a hot streak lately, some great funny stuff.

Much lazier weekend

I only left the house once all weekend (other than walking the dog), and that was only a quick trip to get groceries. We had a bit of frenzied cleanup of downstairs Saturday afternoon because I’d asked my mom to come over for dinner, and the dining room was unusable. We got it in order, then I made Reubens and a fruit salad for us when she came over, we had a nice time. We’d had dinner early, so later on I made popcorn when we watched Monsters Vs. Aliens, fun flick.

Sunday it was glorious to sleep in with the windows open and not be woken up by a yippy dog. I also got to read on the deck with Illa snoozing before heading inside to work on the office and the basement. Later on I grilled burgers for dinner with oven fries and a Caesar Salad, then we watched Fox’s Sunday night ‘toons (I think Simpsons was my fave).

3 Days in NYC: TV Shows, Musicals and Food

We started the weekend on Friday night with a mini-version of Saturday: awful transit followed by an entertaining time. Rain and Friday nights aren’t a good mix for the DMV area, it took a while to grt to the Birchmere. Once were there, we met up with our friends the Fureys, then settled in for an evening of comedy. It was the usual line up of Paul and Storm opening up for JoCo, always good and better when Paul and Storm came out to help out on JoCo’s songs. We left a bit early as it was an early morning wakeup the next day.

Stuart did us a favor Saturday morning and dropped us at the Park and Ride, then we waited for the 5A, which was running late. We gave up when we saw it going the opposite direction (meaning a good 20 minutes until it was headed back) and caught the 950, then two subway lines to Union Station. We still managed to get there on time, but the train didn’t, left about 20 minutes late. We took the train to New York 3 times last year, and each time the experience was perfect. Saturday was the exception, as the late start was just a premonition. Twice we had to stop for several minutes while they checked things, then the ceiling above Jill started leaking, and when she moved across the aisle that was leaking too. We stopped in Newark already close to an hour behind schedule, and didn’t move again. Apparently the signals were out, and they didn’t know how long it would be.

After close to 30 minutes we gave up and got on a PATH train to World Trade Center. It took a while since it was a local, but I only realized today it was a great idea: 500 people were stranded on a different train for more than five hours, and I saw tweets from people who were stuck more than seven hours. After we got into the city, the rain drenched us so fast we quickly gave up on the idea of walking (even to another a subway station) and caught a cab to the hotel. We’d planned on having several hours to relax, but we did have enough time to change before dinner.

When we were in NYC in July, we failed to get into the Daily Show, and in order to try again, Jill indicated she was interested in attending the Rachael Ray show. It’s not easy to get tix soon for that, and those are on whatever day they give you, so I did some investigating and eventually found a charity auction for two VIP tix to her show, two nights at a hotel, and dinner at Asia de Cuba. I won it at a very fair price, and Saturday we were staying at the hotel and going out to eat at the restaurant.

Asia de Cuba is just what the name implies, Cuban food with an Asian flair. We took the subway there (easier to not get wet without luggage), and got there right on time. We started with crab croquetas and asian spiced pork spare ribs (Jill’s highlight, they were scrumptious). The waiter warned us that most people split the entrees, but we had a gift certificate to use up and went with two. Jill didn’t really like her coconut mustard seed sustainable Chilean seabass (it was a huge plate with the vegetables) although I really enjoyed my tropical hoisin roasted duck. We could have skipped dessert except I realized we still had some credit to burn, so I ordered the bread pudding just so I could have some of the cheesecake ice cream (it was so worth it).

After dinner we headed up to 30 Rockefeller Plaza for Saturday Night Live. We were a bit early so we headed downstairs to sit for a bit, then joined the line when we came back upstairs. We went through security (Val Kilmer was right in front of us, but he was whisked out of line), and they brought us upstairs. A little after 11 we were seated as the house band was playing, then after everyone was seated Don Pardo said a few words, then Jason Sudeikis did some stand up and Kenan Thompson sang a song.

Soon it was 11:30 and the show got started. It was a whirlwind of activity for the next 90 minutes, if there wasn’t a sketch going on then the band was playing and they were putting together or breaking down sets. We were seated stage left and could see what was going on most of the time, but there were plenty of monitors if we couldn’t (but we saw Pearl Jam just fine, they were great as always). Things that surprised me: the small size of the studio, the clock only drops down from the ceiling for the opening and closing shots and many of the sets go up on the main stage (not to mention during the final sketch the set wasn’t stable until after it started).

After the show, we hung out to meet with the writer who’d donated the tix to the other charity auction I’d won, and we chatted for a bit (he’s one of the writers on MacGruber), then he took us and another couple on a brief tour of the studio. It was fun (and we saw Bill Hader and Jason Sudeikis), but soon we were outside, and we took a cab back to the hotel with a driver who knew the capital of every country and US state.

Sunday we slept in, it was a good thing as with the time change and the busy day we’d been pretty tired. We had brunch downstairs at Wall & Water, where I had the Eggs Benedict, Jill had a Western Omelette and “the best hotel coffee ever”. Next we headed uptown to a yarn shop, then another subway ride to the P & G Bar (with a quick yarn shop stop on the walk over from the subway), where we met up with our FRFF buds Seth and Hilary (Hilary was bartending) and spent a couple hours catching up.

We had an early reservation at Gramercy Tavern, so we said goodbye and went directly there. It was the nicest restaurant we’ve been in for a while, the food and ambience reminded us of Restaurant Eve. I started with the whole spelt spaghetti while Jill had the butternut squash custard – we each liked the other dish more and switched halfway through. For entrees she had the squab and I had the lamb, no trading there as both were superb. I had the butterscotch sundae for dessert – since it had pear sorbet in it, I paired it with a pear cider, very nice. Jill had a peanut butter semifreddo that was also very good. Afterwards we had made no plans – no show or musical act had really interested us. So we went to Times Square, and saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D. Good flick, much better than their Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We went back to the hotel afterwards, intending to hit the bar, but it was closed, so we had some wine back at Wall & Water.

Monday we slept in again, but that didn’t leave us much time as we had to checkout and change hotels. We checked in at the New York Helmsley (thankfully let us check in early) and headed out. Jill wanted a burger for lunch, and the closest good one was Good Burger (she wasn’t familiar with the film). We ordered burgers and shakes (got mine with an egg on top), and they soon came out. The burgers were good, and grilled on a actual flame, reminded me of Foster’s Grille.

We went uptown so Jill could do a little more shopping (clothes and yarn), then went over to The Daily Show. I was only able to get regular tickets for it, but I had the benefit of trying once before and we got there right before 3PM, right on target. Jill was free for at least the next hour as your guests need to join you by 4:30, so I just read my book until she returned (she found a car dealership serving coffee). They let us in a little after 5, but we still had to wait in line a while longer until they seated us. A comedian came out to warm us up, then Jon Stewart came out for a funny Q&A, then they started about 6:30. They recorded straight through (and it was fun watching Jon crack up while the Aasif Mandvi piece played), but there was audio problems during the segment with Wyatt Cenac and Mick Foley, and they had to film it again (I was happy they used the first take of Jon getting away from Mick when they aired it, it was much funnier).

We didn’t have a lot of time after the show, so we caught a cab to Times Square and wolfed down a couple slices of delicious pizza at Patzeria’s Perfect Pizza, then headed down the block and into the theater where the The Addams Family was playing. We were soon seated, and enjoying drinks in our seats due to the best theater invention ever: souvenir sippy cups. Nathan Lane was simply amazing as Gomez, and the musical was really good. Seth had recommended we stop at Junior’s for some cheesecake, so we did. We weren’t that hungry, so we just had slices of cheesecake, strawberry shortcake for Jill, carrot cake for me. They were decent, but huge and we didn’t finish either one. We went back to the hotel, but Jill wanted something to counteract the sugar. Everything in the hotel was closing, but I figured the McFadden’s up the block (near the burger place) was still open, and I was right. We nursed beers and had a good conversation with the bartender, who reminded us of Seth Meyers.

We got up early the next morning, checked out and left our luggage with a bellman, then headed a couple blocks south to Daniel’s Bagels where Jill had an everything bagel with cream cheese and I had a ham, egg and cheese on sesame. Later we went back up and got in line for the Rachael Ray Show. It turned out we didn’t need to get in line, the tix really were VIP and as soon as they started letting people in we got to skip ahead of the line. Then we waited for while inside, then they seated us (kind of a theme). We got another warm up comedian, unfortunately this one not only more obnoxious but he never left, basically serving as a cheerleader. We ended taping two separate shows (don’t know when they air yet), and the guests were surprises until they appeared.

Rachael Ray Show

Ingrid Michaelson was first (and best), singing Everybody, then Bruce Jenner (meh) and Timothy Olyphant (he was fun, and I’m a big fan of motherf’n’ Deadwood and plan on watching his new series Justified). There were two cooking segments, one a Western Omelette sandwich and the other a “bullseye” (perfectly preserved onion slice) burger. Parts were fun, but we’d been there a while when taping finished and time was running short – we had a little over an hour to catch the train, and were one of the last in line to get out.

But the hotel was two blocks away, and soon we were in a cab hurtling towards Penn Station. We made it with fifteen minutes to spare, enough time for me to get a Nathan’s dog and Jill to get a Moe’s burrito. The ride back on the train was more like our earlier trips, no problems and no delays. We almost got back home according to plan, but just missed the bus out of West Falls Church that would have connected us to the last bus going past our house, and instead we took one near to the Herndon library, I left Jill there and walked home and got the car and picked her and the luggage home, then I heated up some frozen jambalaya, then we watched Chuck and collapsed into bed.

Map of NYC locations

No more football, please

Friday night I got my hair cut on the way home from work, then grilled pork chops. Later we watched TV, including the blow your mind finale of Dollhouse (Whedon fans, if you dropped it, the second season is great).

Saturday I watched a bunch more TV as the DVR was filling up, then we headed out in the afternoon over to the Birchmere with the Jewells and got our line tickets, then went over to Rt’s Restaurant for appetizers. Jill and I split a Cajun Caesar salad (using Creole cornbread for croutons), then I had oysters three ways and she had shrimp and grits.

We got back with plenty of time, got a table for four next to the soundbooth and helped Janice with her onion tangle, then split a pepperoni pizza (they’ve dropped their burgers from the menu). Jake Armerding was not only playing with the band, he got to open this night, had a nice but short set. Eddie From Ohio was of course great, lots of great banter and a nice setlist with some old gems.

I watched one football game (Saints/Cards) before we headed to bed, then Sunday morning watched the Colts/Ravens – since both weren’t close at the end, it was fairly quick to watch them both. In the afternoon I went shopping to find a receiver for my mom to hook up to her new TV, found this. We headed over to her house where she made us waffles and I hooked up all her components (and worked on her computer). When we got back home, we watched the Viking/Cowboys game and 24 (back in a big way), then Jill headed for bed and I watched the Jets/Bolts and the Golden Globes (nice to be able to stay up late and finish everything).

Today Jill wanted to go to Virginia Kitchen for breakfast so we did, I had the Eggs Benedict and she had the Western omelette. She was out after that, and I read newspapers and played some Wii (including my new favorite training regimen). I made taquitos and salad for dinner, then hopped online for the first time all weekend. Now it’s time for Chuck and hour 3 of 24.

Beer, skiing and football

We headed over to Dogfish Head on Friday night as a friend from high school was attending a happy hour, and we had a beer and chatted for a bit, then got a table for dinner as the bar was way too crowded. We split a Caesar salad to start, then both had burgers. When we got back I finished off the old and new Dollhouses – really picking up steam.

Saturday we were up early to meet up with the DC Ski Club at Shady Grove Metro, then head up to Ski Liberty. My Christmas gift to Jill was her plane ticket to Denver and ski lessons, and I urged her to take a lesson (the fact that the lessons were cheaper had nothing to do with it – maybe).

By the time we got her resolved (including me going back to the car for her socks) and I finished getting ready, the other folks were nowhere to be found, but that was ok as it was my first time skiing in two years. My form was horrible at first, but memory started returning, and by the time I took a break to meet up with Jill, I was feeling pretty good.

Jill was done after two hours of extensive instruction, but I wasn’t and kept going as she got her knitting out. I had tried most of the green and blue runs by that point (the blacks were moguls and I hate those), so I finished the others then focused on perfecting my favorite run, Sidewinder -> Lower Strata. I was getting sloppy right as time ran out, so that was good.

We hadn’t made plans for the night (and Illa had the dogwalker), so we decided to stop in Frederick on the way back. I want to go to Volt at some point, but we didn’t bring a change of clothes. Instead the first place we spotted after parking was Brewer’s Alley, which was a great choice. We both started with soups, a cheddar ale for me and a gumbo for Jill, went well with our six beer samplers. Next she had a pulled pork sandwich and I had a chili rubbed steak sandwich with a tomato-jalapeno jam that hit the spot. After we got home I watched the end of the Bengals/Jets game and all of the Cowboys/Eagles game – didn’t care about the first one, disappointed by the second.

Today was a lazy day, made breakfast then watched SNL and LOTS, then hopped on the computer for more video editing fun and surfing. Then it was time for football and dinner. The first game I was surprised that the Pats got steamrolled, and the second was the game of the weekend, thought the Packers could come back all the way.

I made pork chops and green beans and heated up mac and cheese for dinner and Tom Sietsema’s favorite quick and easy dessert later (with Splenda instead of sugar and store made whipped cream), nice tasty low sugar dessert. Then we settled in for a nice evening of Chuck – hopefully with all the promos it got some good ratings. I like him as an ass kicking spy, although I wish the second episode hadn’t reference a first season episode.

NYE Weekend wrapup

Jill was working a 12 hour shift on NYE day, and we both knew she wouldn’t have much energy for the evening, so didn’t plan anything. So we ended up doing appetizers for dinner, starting a fire, reading and watching Foo Fighters videos (from their great new collection) until it was time and switched over to NBC for the ball drop.

I never left the house all three days of the weekend except to walk Illa. Friday we both had large piles of paperwork to get through, plus I started organizing my comics for the first time in months. We had pork chops and stuffing from Whole Foods for dinner, then watched a number of Dollhouse episodes in the evening.

Saturday I finished my comics, then worked on my new computer. I finished transferring all files, then started moving over the HD video I’d captured with my new camera. I was in the mood for a big salad for dinner, so I made one with ham and cheese. It was chilly, so I made hot chocolate and we cuddled up on the couch and watched Up for the first time. Great movie, but I expect that from Pixar at this point.

Sunday I watched the last episode of Doctor Who with the tenth doctor (great coda), read newspapers, then worked on the computer until the football game. Jill brought me a spinach calzone from Pomodoro for lunch, very tasty. I suffered through one last game (I just knew they could find a way to lose), then grilled steak for dinner. We watched some of the Sunday ‘toons, then Jill headed to bed and iwas up way too late on the computer again. I cut back on the general surfing over the weekend, hopefully can get a routine going on videos that isn’t so time consuming.