The drive to Ohio was as eventful as always. We originally considered stopping somewhere along the way to rest up, but instead we drove all the way to Hueston Woods on Wednesday night. Besides a minor confrontation with Johnny Law, we had very few problems and got in sometime around 2 or 3 in the morning. Johnny must have been out searching for drunks on the road, because we escaped with just a series of warnings from him.

I slept in on Thursday, and when I finally awoke I found that the troops were being assembled in the hall. I quickly put on all the clothes I had with me and headed out to the paintball field. What a way to start off Thanksgiving, with a good ol’ family war! I was only shot once throughout the day. Some of the bystanders said it was because I was hiding, but little do they know just how good I am at this “game” called paintball.

After I was completely worn out, we headed in to a giant buffet style dinner in the lodge. They had just about everything you could ask for on Thanksgiving, and it was very good. I had to stop after my third trip to the buffet line. I might have continued to stuff myself, but a hockey team had arrived and cleaned out the remaining food. The rest of the night was spent visiting with Kim’s family.

On Friday we took care of some small errands and things, until it was time to head to my Aunt Barb’s new house in Indiana. They moved quite some time ago, but this was the first time I had seen the new place. It is really nice, and actually not too far away from civilization. We had a great time visiting with all of my family and later in the night we headed down to Paxton’s in Loveland, where my buddy Ken was finishing up his bartending shift. My other buddy Jon was there, as well as Ken’s sister and her new husband, Bryan Shova, who we used to play hockey with. Once Ken was done with work, we headed over to The Works to finish off the night. It was great seeing my buddies again!

We thought about doing various things Saturday afternoon, but never really got off of the couch at my parents’ place. Later on in the night we finally decided to head down to the Silverton Cafe to check out The Rusty Griswolds. I don’t think I’ve seen them in years, but they were just as I remembered. Jon came out to enjoy the packed bar as well. We left before the band was finished since most everyone with us had to get up early for the Bengals game the next day.

Yesterday was just as exciting as Wednesday. We left Cincinnati earlier than we ever have, and still didn’t get back until after 8PM. I had a hockey game at nine that I barely made it to. We lost again, but I had a great game. I think I had a goal and at least three assists. When our team scores nine goals in a game, I expect to win, but the other team scored eleven somehow.

I delayed writing this in hopes that the slackers over at the Johnson County Park and Recreation District would update the volleyball stats from last night. I am now giving up hope. Maybe they have the day off, unlike the rest of us. Anyway, we lost two out of three games again last night. Do you notice a pattern? I thought we played pretty well overall, so maybe we just aren’t ready for the intermediate league. We are now 8-10 and probably in 6th place just like last week.

We are leaving KC in few hours to make the lovely drive to Cincinnati (actually we are going to Hueston Woods first). If you are around the area this weekend, give me a buzz, same number as always. Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Things you can say ONLY at Thanksgiving…

1. Talk about a huge breast!
2. Tying the legs together keeps the inside moist.
3. It’s Cool Whip time!
4. If I don’t undo my pants, I’ll burst!
5. Whew, that’s one terrific spread!
6. I’m in the mood for a little dark meat.
7. Are you ready for seconds yet?
8. It’s a little dry, do you still want to eat it?
9. Just wait your turn, you’ll get some!
10. Don’t play with your meat
11. Just spread the legs open and stuff it in
12. Do you think you’ll be able to handle all these people at once?
13. I didn’t expect everyone to come at once
14. That’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen
15. How long do I beat it before it’s ready
16. You still have a little bit on your chin
17. You’ll know it’s ready when it pops up
18. Wow, I didn’t think I could handle all of that

I went from my worst fantasy football week to my best. I am back on a winning streak after this weeks games. I went undefeated winning all three games fairly easily. I had the highest point total in one league and the second highest total in the other two! My current overall record is now 22-11, and I’ve clenched a playoff spot in one of the leagues.

Work has been pretty busy lately. We have finally added another employee to our QA team, so I’ve been trying to help get him up to speed with everything. It will take some time, but I think he is going to be a much better addition compared to the last employee we had. Once he gets going I will be completely taking over version control and will be back on test automation. I cannot wait to stop testing bug fixes!

Last night Kim went to some sort of purse making party with the girls (although rumor has it that Mike Pavia might have gone as well). I stayed home and started scanning more ticket stubs for my show database. Click on some of the recent shows to see the scans! Hopefully I’ll get everything scanned before the end of the year.

Friday night started off with a happy hour gathering with some folks from my work at the Peanut. Kim stayed home and did a little cleaning, until I met up with her and then we headed out to Fred P Ott’s on the plaza. We met up with Christie and Todd there and had a few rounds of drinks. It was a good time, and I’m not sure why we don’t go there more often, since it is the closest bar to our place, and probably the cheapest on the plaza.

Saturday we got up and headed to the airport to pick up our visitor. Kim’s brother Jason came out as a surprise for his 21st birthday, which is actually today. We went over to the newer Granfalloon north to watch the end of the Ohio State and Michigan game. Thankfully the bucks pulled out a victory! From there we went back to our apartment for a little bit and then met up with a group at the Cashew, the “upscale version of the Peanut.” It was actually a pretty cool looking place. My only complaint was that the service was pretty slow and they were not even busy. From there we went over to the Westport Flea Market for some darts. I beat the combo team of Kim and Jason, but it was a pretty good match. The rest of the night we spent back at our place, and went to bed fairly early since we all had a long day.

Sunday we went back to the Flea Market for some lunch and to check out the shops. I guess I should explain this place a little more. It’s part bar, part restaurant, and part flea market. It’s the only place I’ve found in Kansas City with real darts (although their boards are in terrible shape) and it is supposed to have the best burgers in KC. After spending some time there we headed out for a few errands and then ended up at the Brooksider to watch the Bengals game and to hang out with the usuals. That takes care of the excitement for the weekend. Now I am back at work, luckily it’s a short week!

We have been terribly unexciting this week, my apologies. Busy? Yes. Exciting? No. I guess it just takes a week or so to wind down from a crazy weekend like last.

Last night we hung out with the “kids.” I made some grilled cheese with texas toast and some soup. The food was good, the card games were good, etc. I was surprised to find out that they don’t have any homework, but maybe school is lightening up with Thanksgiving right around the corner. There mom doesn’t seem to be in one of her better moods lately, but hopefully that all passes soon. I’d go into the details here, but it isn’t too important right now.

Hopefully our visitor for this weekend brings a little excitement along. I don’t want to mention names yet, but I’m sure we’ll be really busy. :)

At this time yesterday I was staring out my office window at the sheets of snow that were falling from the sky. Unfortunately the ground here is still to warm for snow, so I don’t have any cool pictures to share with you. Today we do not have that wonderful image to look at, but we still have the same bitter cold in the air. I guess winter is finally here, woohoo! :|

Actually weather like this usually signals the end of my allergy season. I stopped taking Claritin a week ago or so, but I still feel fairly congested at times. The good news is that I don’t really have the sneezing that I usually have when my allergies are bad. This congestion can often be even worse than the sneezing though. It’s hard to justify taking the dollar a day pills of Claritin year round. So I’m looking for something that will help with nasal congestion, but isn’t going to cost a small fortune. Anyone have any suggestions???

We had volleyball again last night. Our match was against one of the teams that was just a couple spots ahead of us in the standings, and they were one of the best teams we’ve played so far, if not the best. With that said, I still think we should have won more than the one game that we did win.

What really hurt us are their stupid rules and the officiating. Yes, the list of dumb rules is continuously growing. There are three courts in a row at this place, and all of our games take place in the middle court. When a ball from one of the other courts comes into your court, the play at your court is blown dead. It would be nice if it just happened automatically, but instead it is at the ref’s discretion. This got us a couple of times, but didn’t hurt us nearly as bad as the timing rule.

Each game is over when one team gets 25 points or when 15 minutes has past. The 15 minutes is only seen by the ref, and is subject to his discretion once again. Well he ended the second game with us down by one point and it being our serve. He was faced with the same situation in the third game, but vice versa, with us winning by a couple points and their serve. Time should have been called very soon, but he made a bad line call that gave the other team a point, leaving us up by one. He then let the other team serve again, and they ended up with another point tying the game. He then said that the next point would win, and guess who got that point? The other team.

After winning the first game, we lost the next two when we should have easily won at least one of those. It is just a recreation league, but it is still frustrating. We are now 7-8 overall, and tied for 6th place. As I mentioned before, we still have a match next week against a team that is now 8-7. It should be a good one!

I had my worst fantasy football week ever. Somehow I still escaped with one win though. I think the majority of my problems are due to the fact that I didn’t mess with my lineup after Wednesday, because of the road trip. Priest Holmes went out for the season, which I expected after talking with some guys at hockey, but he was still in my lineup. It was one of those weeks. Current record: 19-11 with at least one easy win over Kim this week. :)

I really wish that I had more exciting things to write about, but this is all you get today. If I hadn’t worked last night and this morning (before getting into the office) then maybe I would have something more exciting to report. We are having an office meeting today (with free lunch!) so maybe something exciting will happen then, I doubt it though.

I did sell the iPod mini that I won through the gym survey. It sold over the weekend for $215! I’ve also got another iPod shuffle that I might want to sell as well. I’ve been on a big luck streak recently.

Thursday we left work early and headed to St. Louis for another show. This show was at one of the coolest venues I have ever been in, the Fox Theatre. It seats just over 4000 people between the main floor and a huge balcony. The truly amazing part is the architecture on the inside of the building. It is very detailed and well maintained, unlike many other older theatres that I’ve been in. The show did not disappoint either, it was probably the best one out of the three so far. We met up with my friends Josh and Dani, who live in St. Louis, and they were gracious enough to give us a place to crash.

Before heading to bed, we did go out after the show for a couple drinks. The bar was called Pin-Up Bowl and is a martini bar and bowling alley in one. A pretty interesting but really cool idea. Hopefully we can go back again sometime, I heard it’s on of Josh’s favorite bars!

We woke up pretty early on Friday so we could get to Cincy at a decent time. After dropping a few things off to Kim’s family, we headed down to the hotel to get checked in. We had a number of rooms at the hotel, and a pretty large group of people. Of course the partying began almost immediately. The show that night was good, although I was expecting the crowd to be larger than it was. The setlist was the best I have seen in awhile, maybe because some of us help write it. :) It was pretty cool to be watching O.A.R. play in a big arena, even if only half of it was being used.

After that show, we headed to the viper room for the after show with Ordinary Peoples. I hadn’t seen OP in a long time, so it was nice to get the chance to catch their show. We didn’t make it through the whole show, but from what we were there for, it was a blast!

Saturday we woke up and got ready for the wedding. My buddy from college, Nick, was getting married to his long time girlfriend, Jessica. We drove out to the church in Middletown, and somewhere along the way lost a bunch of time. We walked in 20 minutes late and somehow the mass was almost over. It must have been the fastest catholic wedding ever, 40 minutes and everything was done. From there we headed to the reception. It was nice to see so many people that I haven’t seen in a long time, some of whom I had forgotten about and vice versa.

We went to Rock Bottom later on in the night and met up with some of the O.A.R. fans, my parents, and some others. Good times, good beers! From there we headed up to Mt. Adams and into Longworths. It was a good night out, but it didn’t help us stick to our plan of leaving on Sunday at 9.

We actually left Cincinnati on Sunday sometime after 1. The drive was miserable, but the weekend was well worth it!

We went to another O.A.R. show last night, this time in KC at Memorial Hall. I’ve never been to this venue before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It’s an older building in Kansas City, Kansas, that is actually named ‘Soldiers And Sailors Memorial.’ It was built in the 20s I believe, and I don’t think any work has been done to it since then. Actually it isn’t that bad, it just has that older building stench to it. The sound was alright though, which was a little surprising, since I’ve been in similar places that had horrendous sound. Overall the show was good, and I got to scratch another song off of my list of songs not heard live.

I’d write more, but I’m only working a half day today! We are off on a road trip, which will lead us to two more O.A.R. shows and a wedding for an old friend of mine. It should be quite the weekend. The next update will be on Monday, after we return to KC.