Still alive and kickin

Wow....I haven't posted since the 25th of June.

Huh? I wonder where I have been.....oh well.

Are there any readers still left out there?

If so I apologize. I haven't really been overly busy or anything, just unmotivated to blog.

Last week I was on the road for work. I didn't have to stay over night but I had to drive about 3 hours a day and by the time I got back I didn't want much to do with a computer.

The past couple weekends have been relatively uneventful. A couple family dinners and one with friends.

Job is still kinda shitty. Finding out more and more about the future lately. Looks as though my job is possibly going to change. Could possibly be moving offices around the city. Hoping to get promoted and transferred to another department but I have to wait a couple months for that yet.

I think I might start applying to other jobs just to see what is out there. I kinda like the one I am in but there isn't much of a future and earnings are limited.

Oh well. Maybe I can stay on task and post every day or so again.

Time will tell.......

Another Good Time

This past weekend was another good one at my place of residence.

We had another cookout (smaller than Memorial Day's) with incredible food and a great group of friends.

We had barbecue chicken, potatoes, a veggie, and a good desert.

To understand the incredibleness of the chicken you would have to taste the barbecue sauce that the wife makes. She has taken a family recipe and twisted it up a bit and it is AMAZING!!

I actually put it on everything (okay, maybe not EVERYTHING) like potatoes and broccoli. That is the best. Especially on the potatoes. I will actually eat a steak with a potato and heat up some bbq sauce for the potato.

But I got ahead of myself here in this story and I honestly just realized it. I was going to talk about my WHOLE weekend and yet I started the story on Sunday. So let's start over.

This past weekend was another great one at my place of residence.

Friday was a nice quiet night at home after a haircut and some yard work. I watched Charlie Wilson's War (loved it) and stayed in, just the wife and I.

Saturday I got up at 8ish and made eggs for everyone while we waited for a phone call from my daughters soccer coach to see if the game was cancelled due to storms.

I called my family to tell them that the game was likely to be canceled (which it was) and my sister asks me if my mom can take my daughter for the night. I was all for it and so was the wife.

So my mom and sister came and picked her up around noon.

After which, the wife went to work and I started on my yard work. (side note - the yard work has been consisting of tearing out grass and laying down some mulch to create some great flower beds.

After she got home from work and I was done we went to the Olive Garden for a nice quiet (not so much when they seated about 8 little kids at a nearby table) dinner.

After dinner we went home to watch the Pens/Wings game before heading out late with some friends (sister, donkey, young buck, and verb) to a nice arcade/bar called the Coliseum. It is very much like a Dave & Busters (which we don't have here in the greater Harrisburg area).

When we were done there after about 3 hours we headed down to Denny's for a late night snack or very early breakfast for some.

We got home at about 3 and went to sleep around 4.

So I decided that I would get up at 8ish the next morning! BRILLIANT!!

I had more yard work to do and had to get things ready for the previously mentioned cookout.

I cut the grass and created even more flower beds for about 5 hours (during which I drank 80 oz of Gatorade). Then I started pealing potatoes and getting the place set up for friends and family.

My dinner guests included the group that was out the night before and my mom and her husband.

And as I previously mentioned, it was a GREAT time!

After dinner we of course played some bowling on the Wii and then some serious Mario Kart before I kicked everyone out at about 930 cause I was EXHAUSTED.

And then it was back to work on Monday and Tuesday I left for Scranton, PA.

I am still in Scranton (yes, the place the Office is set in) and will be until Friday.

I went to a baseball game last night at PNC Field, home of the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees. And they LOST!!

I couldn't have asked for a better outcome, I hate the Yankees (all of them).

That was probably the most beautiful baseball stadium I have been to. And just so I am honest and you don't mistake me for an expert, I have been to (the late) Veterans Stadium in Philly, Camden Yards in Baltimore, and Riverside Stadium in Harrisburg.

But really the place is beautiful. If you are ever in Scranton or Wilkes Barre you should get to a game. Parking was (surprisingly and impressively) free and great seats down the third base line were only $10.

1 pitch, 1 run

I haven't posted in a couple of days mainly because I haven't really had any urge to.

But I am back on this Wednesday (oh yeah, it's actually Thursday). I love short weeks!

Last weekend:

I had a good time all weekend.

Friday the wife, daughter and I went to this little pizza buffet place (which sucked) and to look at a new car. And while we came away feeling like we could afford it we decided that it just wasn't the right time to add the car payment to the bills.

After that we watched a movie (the holiday) which was very good.

Saturday I got up early (8ish) and got started on my yard (house) work that I had planned for the weekend.

I had been waiting for weeks to stain my deck because I needed a few days with no rain and a full day to scrub and stain it. Finally this past weekend came along and I got to do it.

I never want to do it again!

After scrubbing the whole deck which made my arms hurt I took a few hours break to let the deck dry from hosing it down.

While I took a break I walked around the yard (which I have had since April of 07) and picked up rocks and dug out rocks (that were there when I moved in) because they are ruining my lawn mower.

After that I had lunch and then got started staining the deck.

About 2 (I think, close to 2 anyway) Verb called and said he was coming down. I didn't remind him that I was staining the deck because I figured at worst I would have company or maybe he would help a bit.

And he did. He also ruined the shorts he had on as he somehow got paint on them.

After we were done with the deck Young Buck came down and we played some wii, had dinner, played some wiffle ball, watched the Pens/Wings game, and played more wii (mario kart) until about 2 am.

Good Times!

Sunday I got up early (830ish) and relaxed for a minute or two before starting to set up and get things ready for the cookout that would commence at 3pm.

I cleaned up the tools I used Saturday in the yard, got the toys out to play with, and started washing some furniture for later.

Verb came down around 1 to wash his car, after which we washed my car when it arrived home from being out. Young Buck arrived shortly after that.

We finished getting set up for the cookout before retiring to the couch to watch some of the Indy 500 and (surprise) play some Mario Kart Wii.

We went outside after that and tested the wiffle ball field to see if it would work for a kickball field. It wouldn't. It wasn't big enough and the yard next to me is not really a yard yet, just wild weeds and grass growing taller and taller every year. The first time I kicked it out we spent a good 15 minutes looking for the ball.

And to the minor amazement from the neighbors out back (who watched us search for the ball the first time), WE DID IT AGAIN! Only this time I also punted a football over there. SHIT!

At about 4 people started to show up. We goofed around out back until we started cooking at about 530.

After dinner the wiffle ball game commenced. You can check out this page for a minor recap. But the two teams ended up tied 5-5 and there was only 1 home run. (the first batter, with me pitching - SHIT)

After we finished with wiffle ball and talking for a while some people left while the others ended up in the living room......playing the Wii.

Until 2 AM!! (see a pattern anywhere?)

Monday was a lazy day for me to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! It was AWESOME!

And then back to work on Tuesday, Shit!

Then Don't Come Next Time

It was a very good weekend. Had a cookout, played wiffle ball, threw the football around, and played some serious Mario Kart Wii. (more to come on all of that in the following days)

But let’s start this story on Friday afternoon.

I called my buddy, Oompa Loompa (and yes he is built like one, but no he isn't orange), to see if he and his family were coming to the party on Sunday afternoon.

We were having burgers, hot dogs, salad, and other things that you have at a cookout.

Plus we were playing wiffle ball and whatever else we wanted to play and do.

Oompa has a daughter that is 3 days younger than my daughter so they play together and have fun off on their own.

So I call him cause he had said through an email that they weren’t sure yet, but we needed to know so that we could get the food.

And this is what he said (honest to god he said it)

“we want to come, but we might not because we are having burgers and hot dogs on Monday and we don’t want to eat that two days in a row.”

HUH?!?!?!?!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!

And they didn’t come!!!

They decided that instead of coming and having fun hanging out with friends and having some decent (if not good) food, they opted to stay home and not join us.

What makes the story even more ridiculous is that they keep telling us that they want to spend more time with us so that the girls can play together and because they enjoy hanging out.

SO WHY NOT COME??

I don’t even want to invite them in the future when we are having chicken (with the world’s GREATEST barbecue sauce, made by wifey) or marinated flank steak (from Glenn Miller’s deli in Lemoyne, the absolute best steak anyone, and I mean ANYONE, in the world has EVER EVER had).

Because if you are only coming for the food than you shouldn’t be coming AT ALL!