Last night was pretty uneventful. Kim is on her first trip to Salt Lake City (one of her new territories for work) yesterday and today, so I sat at the computer and caught up on all of the usual sites that I waste lots of time on. I treated myself to dinner from Chipotle, but I guess that I should have gone today and bought a gift card. I also put up the pictures from our trip this weekend, so the night wasn’t a complete waste.
The weekend was a blast and there was never a dull moment. Kim and I finally made it to Manchester, NH (31st visited state) a little after 9PM Thursday. We met up with Tracey and Weeba at the airport and then started the drive to Killington, VT (32nd visited state). Along the way we picked up sampler packs from both Long Trail and Magic Hat Brewing Companies. We then got checked into the hotel/condo and spent the rest of the night catching up over a few drinks.
We woke up pretty early on Friday to get a jump on the crowds. I guess the weather hasn’t been the best out there, but it was perfect upon our arrival. The temperature stayed right around freezing (while the sun was out) and snow was being made often. The only time it got bad was when the wind would gust and blow away all of the powder. Then you would be left with patches of ice to ski/board on. I only took one bad fall on Friday, hitting my toe right on one of these patches of ice. It was towards the end of the day, so I toughed it out and then iced it a bunch afterward. Friday was our relaxing night, since we still had another day on the mountain. We sat in the hot tub, had pizza from Pizza Jerks, watched some TV, drank some of the beers, etc.
Saturday was another early day for us. We needed to take full advantage of our time to make sure our bodies were full of pain. One highlight of the day was the burritos we had from the Baja Burrito stand at one of the bases. Another highlight was attempting to ski/board back to our hotel after a few rounds in the lodge bar. Thankfully we were not on a steep slope, it could have been ugly. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, Sky Box Grill, and then headed out on the town. Our first stop was the Pickle Barrel, which didn’t last long. They had a $20 cover charge, per person! Instead we went over to the Upper Deck Sports Lounge. We had some drinks there, until they switched bartenders, and the new one wouldn’t let Weeba drink because of his paper driver’s license. We then headed to Moguls Sports Pub to finish off the night.
We had to be checked out at 10AM on Sunday, which was a little earlier than I would have liked, but the stop at Blanche & Bill’s Pancake House made it worthwhile. We then made the drive back to Manchester and arrived plenty early for our flights later in the day. I’ve never been extremely afraid of flying, but a few people on our flight must think that I am. Shortly after takeoff, I started to feel a little weak, sweaty, shaky, etc. I felt like I couldn’t breathe very well, but in actuality I was hyperventilating. A very kind doctor said that I might have had a low blood sugar level that triggered this, along with the anxiety of flying. He considered it a panic attack, something that I am familiar with but didn’t think I would ever experience. And now that I might have experienced one, I hope to never experience it or anything like it again.
Despite the craziness of yesterday, the trip was well worth it and everyone had a blast! We talked about doing it again next year, either to Killington again or somewhere else in the northeast.
As I mentioned before, I’ve been working on a website for the Sigma Phi Epsilon Missouri Gamma Chapter. Last night I finally got a header that I liked enough to start actually working on a site layout. You can view what I have done here, and if you want you can click the header numbers to see how the design progressed from an original idea into what it is now. The other links on the site do not work and I’m sure I’ll be making some changes to the header and layout, so feel free to leave some comments and feedback.
My day of work is almost over. I’ll be leaving in about a half hour, which will start our vacation to Killington, Vermont. I’m sure it will be a blast. I’ll give you my review when we are back in KC on Monday. Have a nice weekend…
We start winning a few volleyball games and next thing you know team ‘Off Each Other’ is discussing a day long tournament. I think all of this winning has gotten to their heads, but maybe that’s just my broken toe talking. We’ll see how the rest of this session plays out and then we’ll talk about tournaments.
Anyway, we had another match last night and once again we swept the opposition in all three games. Our record is now 11-1 and we should have a solid grasp on 1st place by at least one game. I’d know for sure if the JCPRD ever updated the site in a timely manner. I played pretty well, but my bum toe is still holding me back some. Hopefully I don’t re-injure it too badly in Vermont this weekend at our ski/snowboard trip.
See what happens when my fantasy football leagues are over? I have nothing to write about. Actually what I did do last night was try to learn a little extra money by creating a webpage for the Missouri Gamma Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon at the University of Missouri-Rolla. It’s intimidating to be creating a page for a group at a technical school. I would have guessed that they could have done it themselves. Regardless, I’ve been trying to get something together for them and I finally sat down last night and put some ideas onto paper (actually my computer screen). Hopefully I can come up with an entire layout in the next couple days. If so, I’ll link to it so I can get some extra comments on the design. I should have time to do so since Kim is taking a business trip tomorrow.
Friday night started off pretty relaxing, with some pasta for dinner and a couple of drinks. Then Mike and Christie came over and the euchre games began. I would advise never playing euchre with Christie as she gets more loner hands in one game than I have ever had. From there we headed down to The Levee for additional drinks, some dancing, and great times!
Saturday was spent cleaning up the apartment and rearranging the office in preparation for a new computer desk that can hold my growing home network. I finally got the new computer on the network, and the process of transferring files has begun. Later in the evening we hosted a party for the recent engagement of Christina, one of Kim’s coworkers, and Taylor. The party eventually shifted down to O’Dowd’s, where Tanner Walle and friends were putting on a show. It was nice to see them again, even if they were playing only cover songs. Hopefully we can make it out to another show soon.
Yesterday we took the kids out to the movies and saw Dreamer. It was a nice family movie that everyone seemed to enjoy. We then spent a little time at a pet store and called it a day. I was able to play hockey last night even though my toe is still a little sore. We won once again and should now be in first place in the league.
A month ago, or more, we registered to attend a Crosstown Shootout watch party for UC alumni at The Other Place. We found out about it through a postcard that I randomly received in the mail. Anyway, we later found out that the same bar was hosting the watch party for Xavier alumni as well. So we decided that we would have to show up decked out in Bearcat gear.
We arrive at the bar, our first time there, and realize that there is no one there for the game, and we were only five minutes early. The bar was pretty cool though, with a ton of TVs, so we decided to stay and watch the first half. An added bonus was that they had Blue Moon on tap! From there we watched the rest of the disappointing game down at George Brett’s. It was nice to get out during the week though, I just wish that we would have driven down to the plaza. The walk down to the bar was not fun with my stupid toe. I better be able to play hockey on Sunday.
My toe still hurts quite a bit, and the swelling is still about the same, but at least it is beginning to feel better. The coloring of it has gotten worse though. If I remember, and it still looks as ugly as this morning, I’ll take a picture when I get home and share it with you all. :)
Last night we went over to Doni and Phil’s house to eat some dinner and play cards with Mike and Christie. Doni and Phil are currently in the middle of their two week vacation in Hawaii and Christie was put in charge of the dog and cat. Mike cooked up some of his grandma’s spaghetti sauce and we had ourselves a little feast! We also played a couple games of euchre, and drank a little wine. We’ll call this another “team building” event.
Tonight is the Crosstown Shootout. GO CATS!
Our volleyball team remains in first place after another week of play! We started off losing the first game, but rallied to win the remaining two. We are now 8-1 for the session. If we keep this up we may have to go out for drinks to celebrate.
Unfortunately, I injured my big toe on my left foot during the last game. I jumped up in the air to make a play and when I landed, I hit right on the tip of my toe. I’m not sure if it is broken or just jammed real good. I somehow managed to finish the game, and even was forced to make a play or two. I’m trying to keep it iced throughout the day and hoping that I don’t have to get up from my desk very often. I don’t think there is anything a doctor could do, so I am most likely going to tough it out. Hopefully it is healed for my hockey game on Sunday.
After work last night we planned on staying in to clean up the apartment, unpack from the trip, etc. Instead we ended up at the Brooksider where a large crowd was gathered to watch the Missouri vs. Kansas basketball game. We stuck around to watch the end of the game, since it was such a good one. I’m not sure how many people actually watched the game (besides those who live around here) since neither team is ranked, but I guess it was on ESPN so I’m sure some of you did. The Brooksider crowd was very happy since most of them are all Missouri fans. What a finish though! I’m glad we stuck around to watch it.
I’ve added our NYC pictures to the site. There are lots of touristy pictures and only a couple from the show. I think some of the foggy ones from Friday turned out really cool though.
I just got back from a dentist appointment. As per usual, they told me that my teeth look great but that I should be flossing more. Maybe I can make that a new years resolution…
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