Weekend Plans

Don't you just love 4 day weekends?!

I made a brief excursion today to cash my paycheck and swing by the library. I also stopped at 7-eleven to buy a mega millions ticket. Someone is going to win the $110 million, I figure it may as well be me.

I realized when I was out that it was actually the last thing I wanted to do, and I've resolve to venture out as little as possible between now and monday morning. To that end I've built a little pile of books:

-Wind in the Willows (I'm a little over 1/2 through)
Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley (who recently stepped down from national review after endorsing Obama)
-The Golem by Isaac Bashevis Singer
-Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire, he wrote Bewitched, the retelling of Wizard of Oz. I am a little reluctant about this one, because the second book Son of a Witch was pretty terrible


How are you spending the long weekend?

UPDATE:
I finished Wind in the Willows, Lion Among Men, and the Golem, and watched The Empire Strikes back and the good parts of Lord of the Rings 2 and 3 (the bits without all that tiresome trudging towards Mordor.)

In order to not be completely lazy, I walked around Greenlake to the library where I returned the books and checked out The Princess Bride. I didn't realize it was a book before it was a movie, and that the book is supposed to be really funny.

Thanksgiving wrap-up

It sounds strange, but this is the first year I've been in charge of the turkey, and in fact the first time I've roasted a bird. I followed the advice of America's Test Kitchen and brined, then air dried the Turkey. The process started Wednesday morning, but didn't actually require much work on my part. The most daunting part, other than timing it so the meat was cooked and ready at the right time, was the actual carving. It's all well and goo to say "locate the joint and cut off the leg," actually doing so without mangling the whole thing was a bit of a challenge.

I chose to carve everything (there was also a beer can chicken cooked on the grill) in the kitchen so that nobody had to witness my blundering first attempt. Of course in the end the spread was so overwhelming, I don't think anyone noticed.

As usual there was way more food than we could eat, more surprisingly there was more wine than we could drink. Of course the fact that Sterling (white tshirt) brought a bottle of Scotch helped ease the demand for wine. I think we may have finished the scotch before we ever got around to dessert.

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. For those of you in Fresno, I want to have a dinner party when I'm in town at Christmas/New Years. Any thoughts?

In defense of my love for Top Gear, watch this clip.

Can anyone tell me how to post videos?

Random Bits

1. My pick for cutest contestant on the new season of Top Chef is Radhika. I just hope she doesn't cook every dish with and Indian flair, because repetition never gets you very far in the competition.

2. My other current TV obsession is Top Gear, a British car show. I'm not sure why I love it, I've never been a big car guy. I have always been an Anglophile, and I think the British sense of humor has a lot to do with it. For the same reason I'm fascinated by the show Guarding the Queen, a documentary about the Grenadier Guards (they guard all the royal residences.)

3. I'm beginning to worry about my job. Hopefully it is pointless fretting, but I know that we are finishing up a couple projects and we've been spending quite a bit of time working on putting together project portfolios. If the damned client would just give us the go ahead we would have more work than we know what to do with. As it is we are just waiting, and we can only wait for so long before there are too many people in the office being paid to wait. Anyone know of a good high paying job in the greater metropolitan Fresno area?

4. On that note...and in keeping with the overall economic malaise, I decided once again to gather up all my change and take it to the coinstar machine.
Can you believe that pile was actually $50.71!!! I went with the Amazon gift certificate option, which means they don't deduct the 9 cents per dollar fee. It also means I'll be doing some Christmas shopping on Amazon. Plus there is some extra promotion for cashing in over $40, you get an extra $10 somehow. I need to mail in the bottom of the receipt, then wait however many weeks for something or other. I'm sure it will be something lame like ten bucks off a night in a timeshare in Lake Tahoe.
5. Step two in my quest for Christmas on the cheap, used book sales. As I was finally getting my books off the floor and onto the fancy new cinder block bookshelves in the closet, I set aside anything I could part with and packed 3 boxes for a trip to Powell's. Last year I got about $250, but I doubt I'll get anywhere near that this time. It may end up a wash after I figure gas to and from Portland. Still it's a trip to the happiest place on earth.

Shark or Bear

Inspired by the "Shark or Bear" question during my appearance on TVLGFHF, I decided to test just how wise my choice was. Looks like I'm not long for this world in the event of a bear mauling.

Because Adam's not the only one who can post from icanhascheezburger

Desk

Inspired by Sara's photos of her desk...


My computer, lamp, coffee cup...really all the essentials. The door goes to the office next door, also a design firm.

I get to host the office plant, which is nice for me.


I also sit at the front, which means I have the best view of the park across the street. It also means that I'm closest to the door and have to deal with the crazy people that come in selling stuff.

Halloween Weekend

aIt's a good thing we gained an hour of sleep Sunday, because it's was a long weekend. I thought I would skip out on Halloween, I just wasn't feeling up to it and I didn't have a costume. Luckily Friday was a fun day in the office and my co-worker Morgan had a spare costume at home. Out I go, waiting for the costume to show up. It took a while, and I caught a lot of flack, but eventually it led me to the priesthood.


The next night I went to a murder mystery party at Carly and Matt's. It was a Vegas theme, and I was Ace High, the high rolling millionaire bachelor who had recently gotten married on a bet. Knowing she was just after the money, I lost it all on a basketball game. No worries though, I've been embezzling funds from the casino with help from the security guard. With all that intrigue, is it any surprise that I was the victim?
Turns out my jilted wife (standing by the door) killed me to keep me from laying hands on her recent mega lottery winnings.

I was a little nervous about how it would go, but everyone really got into it and we had a good time. Ted (above) was a slots player trying to move up to the big tables. Of course we had to play some cards, and being a flashy guy, I went all in on 5-6 off suit, and won with a straight. Good times.

To cap off the weekend, I had some friends over for a bit of pickling and apple-saucing, along with some soup. Katie and Liz baked some rolls and cheese biscuits, as well as Katie's tomato jam which was delicious.

All in all it was a great weekend.

Oh, and of course the car...

It's here, and it's all mine!!!!

...by which I mean the bank owns it and is allowing me to drive it around.