silly rabbits...

Oh man, tonight we started playing the funnest (yes, I know that isn't a word) Wii game ever, Raving Rabbids. Click here for some videos. It is just a bunch of silly games involving ugly little rabbit things. So far we've shot rabbits dressed as chickens, danced to silly songs using the wii fit balance board, and sledded down a mountain sitting on a cow. Now if that isn't quality entertainment, I don't know what is. Plus, I'm going to be really sore tomorrow. So it is a fun game and a great workout. What more can you ask for from a game? Anyway, thanks to Tyler for Christmas, we now own this amazing game, so if you want to come over and make a fool of yourself, consider yourself invited. I'll always take the opportunity to laugh at anyone's expense.
... And if this post sounds like I'm writing in another language (Grandmother), maybe you should skip on down to the next post. It's a good one.
By the way, this is a Rabbid. Told you they were ugly.

The day that Dallas went to the mall

It is the day after Christmas, and what does the entire state of Texas decide to do? Go to Northpark Mall, of course. We know, because we were there too. First, we drove around the parking lot for a long time before finding a spot to park, and I don't mean a close spot to park, we would have been happy with any spot that was in the same county as the mall. We finally spotted someone backing out, and Blake hurried to put on his blinker and claim the spot. We weren't really in a hurry, so there were no hard feelings toward the mall, we were just happy to be finally heading inside. We entered through Nordstroms and needed to go down one level before we could get in to the rest of the mall, so we went for the escalator. That is when my day was made. All of the parking mess and crowds were made worth it by one man's actions. Here's how it went... He rushed in front of us to get to the down escalator, grabbed both hand rails, and promptly forgot how to use an escalator. Blake and I expected him to continue moving so we were both standing a little closer behind him than we normally would have been, but I don't think he noticed. He was concentrating too hard on getting onto the moving steps. It took him about 4 tries before he succeeded in getting onto the escalator. I think we were both too bewildered to laugh, look at each other, or even say anything, but when he finally succeeded in getting onto the escalator, I leaned over to Blake and simply said "Buddy the Elf". He knew exactly what I meant and attempted to pretend to ride the escalator like Buddy did in "The Elf". The only problem came when he stepped on the girl behind us. Remember? The mall was already crazy busy and the guy in front of us held the line up for a while, so there was a whole line of people behind us. Anyway, here's a clip from "The Elf" so you can experience just what we did today. No, the guy wasn't wearing all green with yellow tights. If he were, we'd be looking for the hidden cameras. If the video decides not to work, try this link.

We went about our shopping at the mall, and for the most part it was uneventful until we were leaving. We left the same way we came in, and it just so happened that our parking spot was on the far end of the parking garage from where we were. There was this guy driving by us in the opposite direction looking for a parking place. He rolled down his window and said, "Are you leaving?" Blake said, "Yes, but we are way down on the other end of the garage." The guy replied, "Great, no problem, what are you driving?" Blake said, "A Corolla." And the guy finished with, "See you there!"
We walked down to the end of the garage and there was the guy waiting. We both thought out of all the cars in this huge garage, he isn't going to find our "Corolla down on the end." The Corolla is much too common. That is also when we looked around and realized that if we said we are in the "Mercedes or Jaguar down at the end", he never would have been able to find us. Ahh, Dallas. You love your cars.

Study this photo...

Yes, If you are wondering why Blake is in a produce section at a grocery store with food in front of him, you have correctly identified the photo. I had told Blake that we need to find some good, hole-in-the-wall Mexican food near our apartment. He has succeeded with flying colors. He asked around at work to see what the favorites are, and came across this place. It is inside of a "El Rancho" grocery store. We had some really yummy tacos and burritos. Blake's Spanish
skills came handy as all of the signs were in Spanish. We decided on some food, 4 kinds of fresh salsa that I couldn't read what they were, but we decided that one of them had to have cinnamon in it. Neither of us cared for that one, but we did like the others, 2 of which were
green, and also a more traditional pico style. Also, the meal wouldn't have been complete without some good Mexican soda. Love it.
After we ate, we needed to pick up a few grocery items. I enjoyed the produce section where the jalapenos were $.67 per pound, cilantro was 3 bunches for $1, and limes were 25 for $1. Score. I sure did get some stuff to make salsa.
The story doesn't end here though... When we got in the check out line, there was this case of pop ice things in fun flavors. Blake got "rice pudding" and I got coconut. The guy in line behind us got the same one as Blake, so Blake asked him if it was good. The guys said yes, and then said, "by the way, what are you doing here?" haha, I had already noted that we were the only white people in the store, but I wasn't expecting for someone to point that out. I was too busy laughing to answer, but Blake said, "we're here for the food" pointing to where we'd gotten the tacos. The guy agreed that they were good, and we went about our checkout business.
I plan to go back soon. Maybe I'll tan first though.

the desk

the hotdog that you saw in the video below is the subject of this post as well. You see, it is version 2 of the hotdog that I got for him back in may. It has been his obsession since that moment. The original hotdog is now discolored and missing it's squeaker. I mentioned to my mom that it was time for a new hotdog and I haven't been able to find one around us, but she knew where to find one. And by one, I actually mean 2. She got him a new hotdog AND a new hamburger. Blake and I thought that since he still had the old hotdog, we'd hold the new one back till the hamburger is worn out, so I put the hotdog on the desk... out of his reach... so I thought. The other evening, I was getting dinner together and turned around and he had the NEW hotdog in his mouth. I asked Blake if he gave it to Bo, and no, he hadn't. I couldn't figure out how he had gotten it, so I put it back on the desk and watched. This is what I saw...

If the video doesn't work, try this.

Bo's favorite game.

I made a movie displaying bo's favorite game. The "prize" is one of his favorite toys, a hot dog. Blake was playing this game with him yesterday and bo searched (without us realizing) for 30 minutes. Needless to say, he was distressed when the search came to an end. We don't usually let it go that long. He usually finds his toy long before that mark. Not last night though! I thought his search warranted a post and video of his own. Enjoy!

If the video doesn't work, try this.

Sonic Hates Me

Every once in a while Whitney and I go to Sonic, a drive in restaurant that does everything in it's power to aggravate me. We have ben perhaps 3 to 5 times since we headed back to Texas. Each time, both Whitney and I have ordered Cherry Limeades, same size, same everything. Each time the drinks have been handed to me, and each time, Whitney's contains a cherry, and mine does not. I don't know if you are aware, but part o the charm of this drink is that when you are finished, there is a cherry ( albeit a candied cherry) that has been soaking in this sprite, cherry and lime juices. Sonic has seen fit to abandon tradition and start, what I can only see as a personal attack on me, the customer.

Well, I have had it with them and their playing favorites with cherries. I am no longer ordering said drink, and am serious reconsidering where to take my drive-in drink orders. If anyone has suggestions as to where I can order a cherry limeade with a cherry, I would greatly appreciate it. Until then, you are on notice Sonic.

who does this remind you of?

Another Office clip that hits close to home. Who does Jim make you think of?

skwinkles

Blake and I went to Target tonight to get some dog food, and in the checkout lane I saw this for $.52:
Skwinkles SalsaGheti. I "you won'ted" (dared) Blake to eat them. He said "OK." Turns out it was the best 52 cents I've ever spent. Keep reading.
When we got home, I broke out the camera and told him to dig in. I was getting this dare on film. Here's the first taste.Just a little cringe after the first bite.Managing a smile... and describing the taste as "Cherry Twizzlers with Seasoned Salt". Now doesn't that make you want some of your own?
Also included in the package was this package of goo. He decided to be safe and taste the goo before dipping the spaghetti into it. His description of this was, "Rotten Taco Bell hot sauce." He proceeded to dip the spaghetti.
A nice pre eating smile.
... And the aftermath. Yes, it was that bad.
He did however say that this is only the second worst Mexican junk food he has eaten. The first being the Mexican Doritos that we got while on our honeymoon. We couldn't read what the flavor was supposed to be because it wasn't in English, but it could ONLY have said "vomit". There is nothing else we could come up with to describe the taste. BAD. I'm sure all the locals know to steer clear of the things and to just laugh at all the tourists that say... "Green package... must be lime or something like that." So, the Skwinkles... they were close, but will never equal the Mexican Doritos. Never.
Here's the dare... Anyone who is willing to eat your own Skwinkles, tell me. Nothing would give me more pleasure than to purchase a package for you. Rules are, you must have pictures taken to prove you actually ate them. Dare is on.

the office = real life episode 2

Blake and I have enjoyed watching the Olympics this week, and when I saw this clip, it really made me laugh. If you haven't read my philosophy (originating from my mom) on who I live with (Blake and Bo), now might be a good time to catch up on it before you continue reading this post. Click here to go back to it.
Alright, so we are all read up now, huh? Now you are ready to continue with this clip of Dwight. Several times, I've posted about the hotdog (and other toys) that Bo is obsessed with, and while Bo may not go "rabbit hunting" or "hampster hiding" like Dwight talks about, he does go "monkey and hotdog hunting" when we hide his toys in random places around the apartment. He doesn't give up for anything for any reason. You might even say it is the same intensity as Dwight in the clip.


Here's another clip that for some reason seems to hit home. It just so happens to be Olympic related also. When we saw this clip on TV, Blake was picking on Bo at that very moment. I laughed out loud at him.

arrrrrrrrr matey and carnivorous plants

Yesterday we went to San Francisco to see my cousin, Travis. He took us to some fun/interesting stores near his apartment, and I thought they warranted a piece of our blog. The first store specialized in random stuffed animals... no not cuddly teddy bears.... remember we are in San Francisco... These were animals of the taxidermy sort. They also had random teeth and other animal oddities. (see what I mean, fun/interesting?) In the back of the store there was a huge selection of exotic plants. My favorite was a venus fly trap. I've always wanted one. I didn't buy one though, because I don't think my thumb is that "green". (PS- if you just clicked on the words "venus fly trap" and spent 2 minutes of your life watching a plant eat a fly, you are a strange as I am.) So, that was the first store. Next on our venture down the street was called "The Pirate Store". I didn't take any pictures, but here's a funny one from their site...
They have these signs EVERYWHERE in the store. All very funny... in a pirate sort of way. On one wall were lots of drawers with random things in them. Things like plastic eyeballs, buttons, never ending scarfs... all sorts of good stuff.
Anyway, fun was had, we got to see some family and an interesting part of a crazy city that we hadn't seen before. We'll have to do it again sometime.

my boys...

Just now, bo was craving some attention, so what did Blake do? Well, he went and put on some sweat pants, of course. Why sweat pants, you ask? They have elastic around the ankles. Yes, he is that cool. The real reason for the pants was so that he could hide Bo's favorite toy in the leg and let him search for it. Bo scratches and scratches until he can't anymore and then finds a way to fight on. It's a great game. Just thought I'd share.

The Final Countdown (or How I spent the last 48 hours)

So, with much patience and persistence, I finally made it to Dallas last night, and getting ready to drive to California.  Now you might say "Blake, what ever do you mean?"  (Honestly though, if you are saying that and I am not there, seems like you might be the one with the problems.)  

And so our story begins...

It was a quiet Thursday night at work.  I was in the back all night fixing computers, when I got an email from a guy at church who I had asked if I could use their car.  We talked back and forth for a while, and got all the details worked out, and I was going to call him when I got off work to meet up and borrow his car.  And now the story gets interesting.

So I call him at 9AM on Friday and he says, "Well, to tell you the truth, I am glad you didn't get off earlier.  There was all this rumbling outside and a crane on one of the buildings fell about an hour ago.  I don't know how long it will take to clear everything up, so why don't you call back later this afternoon."  Can you believe it, a crane on a building near my apartment collapses and leaves the city in uproar and me carless for now.  Thinking fast I have hedged my bets and have also contacted 2 other friends.  One calls back and says that his inspection is out on his car, but I can still use it if I want, and the other doesn't respond.  He usually doesn't though.  He is pretty good about thinking things through and having an answer, but not telling me his response until I call or see him in person.

So, I did some light packing, watched Lost and the news, had a conference call about the summer program I am in with Apple, and then slept for about an hour.  When I woke up at 4PM, and called my friend near the collapsed crane, he said they had shut down the entire area for investigation and safety, and didn't know when it would reopen.  The final answer was "not while I am in New York".  

Still waiting to hear from my other friend, I went to Time Warner to return my cable box for a non-HD version for a friend who is staying in my apartment while I am gone.  I got there and took a number, and wouldn't you know, Time Warner gave me number 666.  After waiting in purgatory there for almost 45 minutes, my number was called and I was seated at Desk 13.

Now, I am not a superstitious  person, but those are bad numbers to team up I would think. Fortunately everything ran smoothly, and I was out of there without incident.  I even paid my bill.

I got back home and decided to call my other friend who had not gotten back to me, and he said his mom wasn't going to be able to bring his car into the city because she had to go and get his dad from the hospital.  I had to do something, and I needed to get it done that night!.  I checked a couple of car rental places, and found out that in Manhattan, Hertz rents cars by the hour.  I ran the 4 blocks to the nearest Hertz, got a car, came home and threw my stuff in the car and left.  If only it were that easy.  In actuality, I took stuff out in 4 or 5 trips up and down 3 flights of stairs, got locked out the apartment building for a little while, and even lost my phone for about 20 minutes.

I met up with my friend whose mom went to get his dad, and we went into the ghetto of Long Island City to my storage space. I took him to work, and printed off my boarding pass before returning the car about 10:30PM.  on a side note, the reason I printed my pass online as opposed to at the desk, was that to have a second bag with AirTran, they charge you $10 to check it online, and $20 in person.

I went home and got my laundry together and took it to the nearby mat.  Around 12:30AM I got home, ate a PB&J( the first time I had eaten since breakfast), and packed my bags until I could no more.  Slept for about 6 hours, and went to meet some friends from church for breakfast. Then it was off to a fond farewell from my friends at Apple, and then back home to finish packing my bags.

There wasn't as much left as I thought there was, so that wasn't so bad.  I met up with the girl who is staying in my apartment while I am away, and went to pay the rent and then took off for the airport.  (Another side note, the landlord's office is right next to a movie theater showing the Sex and the City Movie, and there was a line of about 300+ people, 18 of which were guys. All of these people are waiting to see a movie about a TV show that ended a while back, and the weather in New York was a mix of Rain and heat which means muggier than Central Park at night.)

The flight was delayed, but everything ran smoothly.  As I was landing in Atlanta to switch planes, I realized the reason there wasn't so much to pack was that I had left 1 of my 3 loads of laundry at my neighborhood laundry mat in New York.  I called them, they said they didn't know if they had it, and then I called my pastor who lives near me.  He called back and said he was on his way home from seeing Iron Man (probably the best summer release to date), and would stop by.  They had all my clothes in a bag, and is going to mail them to the apartment that I am not yet at in the Bay Area of California.  

All in all, I have finished the 1st leg of my trip, and look forward to spending time with Whitney on the road for the next 1800 miles.  Hopefully the 2nd part won't be the same as the first, although it looks like we might have a flat tire...

What to do when you can't serve your mom (on Mother's Day)

Today Whitney and I went to help out at a long term care facility in the Village with our Community Group. We took cabs up to the Baily House right after church with our group and got to work. Well, Whitney got to work and I went to find some Tylenol Sinus as to today was the day my allergies decided that it is Spring in the city, which is to say that they gave me as much trouble as a crazy business woman on a crowded subway carrying a live chicken from Canal Street to 86th and Lexington on a train that is destined to fail, and me with a dead iPod.

When I got back, jobs were being done and food was being made. As I am not much of a cooker, more of a watcher and smart answer giver, I helped with the cutting of vegetables. I should point out that the last time I was asked to do extensive cutting in a group setting was in Boy Scouts, for Pine Wood Derby's, and mine ended up pretty much like the block of wood it started out as, and my fingers all ended up in Band-aid brand adhesive bandages. I did successfully chop zucchini, jalapenos, and green onions for a salad that needed no cooking, with minimal poking of the fingers and surprisingly no blood.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the kitchen... Whitney and Kenny (one of the Pastors of our church) were building a cake for dessert. Whitney has never necessarily prided herself as an expert chef, but has always said she was better than me. Now, everyone knows that there are some ingredients you cannot leave out of a cake. Eggs, milk, flour and sugar. Those are the building blocks, even I know that one. Well, Whitney and Kenny add a bunch of ingredients in a bowl and mixed them in an industrial mixer, buttered and filled 2 cake pans and heated the oven. Kenny looked back at the counter at this point, and then looked and saw... an entire bag of unopened sugar. They had forgotten to add it! They poured the entire concoction into the big bowl again and hand kneaded the sugar into the dough. Then re-buttered and re-poured and then put the 2 cake pans into the oven. That was almost a disaster.

When the food was ready, we got it all together and served about 30 to 35 people our 6 days after Cinco de Mayo, Mexican Mother's Day Tex-Mex meal. It was good, and the people there really seemed to enjoy it, some of them even took seconds. I say took seconds, because they didn't eat them, they wrapped them up and took them back to their rooms. The day went really well, and it was something we enjoyed doing. Thanks to Becky for finding all the foods for us to make, and then direct us in the way of the preparation. You did great!

Notice the "nice" hair net. Stylish...

The beautiful finished cakes.

good hair & bad hair

I had a little adventure on Saturday.  I haven't had my hair cut in a while... try like 6 months.  I've been trying to grow it out some, and I knew if I got it cut, it would just get it cut short (like I always do).  Anyway, back to the story... I emailed a few friends to see if they had any suggestions on where I should go.  Two of them suggested this place close to our apartment.  The walk-in "wash and cut" is only $20.  Heck yes, I'm in!  Saturday morning, I walked down and got it cut.  I'll bet you think the next part of my story is that I have a bad haircut (like the lady in the photo above).  NOT TRUE!  I like it.  That isn't the fun part of the story.  The fun part is the conversation Blake and I had on our way home from church on Sunday.  The conversation went something like this.  

... breaking in on the interesting part...

Blake:  "You got your hair cut by who?"

Whitney: "Legend"

Blake: "Legend?  That is strange."

Whitney:  "Well, it isn't her real name.  It is just her haircutting name."

Blake: "Are you sure that is her haircutting name and not her stripper name?"

Whitney: (laughing) "I wouldn't know a stripper name if I heard one."

Blake:  "Neither would I... but did you tip her in SINGLES?"

Yeah, so that Blake is a funny kid and I'm glad that I get to be married to him and hear his silly jokes everyday... even the stripper ones.

Staying Alive

So we were walking home from church the other day, and saw this couple who looked to be in their 70's holding hands and walking together.  Normally this wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary, but these two had appeared as though their better days were in the 50's.  They were both wearing their high school letter jackets, collars popped, and sunglasses.  He was even wearing Aviators.  But the best part, was that in the opposite hands, they each had cigarettes.  It was a little jarring at first, but then once the initial shock wore off, I hurried up behind them to take a picture on my phone.