We had a couple of ugly Christmas sweater parties this year, the last one being this past weekend. I wore the same outfit to both. It consisted of a sweater from my mom’s closet, a women’s button down shirt that Kim bought for me from the Salvation Army, a pair of blue pants that I’ve had in our costume bin for a while, and my old racquetball shoes. Pretty spiffy if I do say so myself.
A month ago I was asked if I wanted to join a broomball team and my immediate answer was yes. Though I have never played broomball before in my life, I figured my skills on skates should transfer over to this sport at least a little. Now after playing our first game I think stick handling the ball and shooting are definitely transferable skills, but running on ice is nothing like skating, and not just for the obvious reasons. On shoes it isn’t as easy to get away from players on the other team, so any advantage I may have had no longer applies in a game situation.
First Broomball Game
I was able to get a couple of shots off during the quick thirty minute game, but only one even had a chance of going in the net. Unfortunately no one else on our team was able to score either, and we ended up losing 0-2 despite great efforts from our goalie. We had a quick team meeting (beer drinking session) after the game and have already discussed some strategies that will hopefully allow us to start scoring some goals and maybe eventually win some games. Photos from our first game can be seen on 5chw4r7z.com as well as his flickr page.
Our remaining games, for those who want to come cheer the Little Kings on to victory:
While attending the New Years celebration in Oakley Square, I had the opportunity to try New Orleans To Go. My cousin has been hyping this place since the early summer. I overheard them say that they only brought a very limited menu since they weren’t sure of the attendance of the event. Basically they only had a few options, but even still I had a hard time deciding between the Cajun rice and the gumbo.
Menu Board
In the end I decided to try the Louisiana chicken and sausage gumbo. Upon ordering a hot bowl of the gumbo was quickly handed to me, fresh from the pot. Not only was it hot in temperature, but it was spicy too! It may not look like much from my terrible cell phone photo, but the gumbo was packed with tons of chicken and sausage as well as plenty of rice to soak up all the juice. I was really impressed with the dish and I hope that I can track down the food truck again in the near future to sample some of their po-boys and other bayou specialties. Based on other reviews I’ve read online, all of their food is tasty!
Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
While walking into mass this past Sunday morning, I was told that we were on the list of people who weren’t expected to show on New Years Day. I guess that is what having a kid will do to you. Normally I would have agreed, but after barely staying awake past midnight, getting up early the following morning was no problem. To ring in the new year we did bundle ourselves and Trey up in warm clothes and walked up to Oakley Square for the annual party there. They do a 9 PM ball drop with fireworks for all the families in the area and their kids. It’s a nice touch and turned out to be perfect for us. Trey was able to celebrate with us at 9 PM and then fall asleep on the walk back home.
I spent the day off work yesterday putting together our new grill. While packing our things for the move back to Cincinnati earlier this year, I decided to leave our old grill behind and give it to one of our friends out there. So when asked what I wanted for Christmas, a new grill was one of the items on my list. When opening gifts at my parents’ house, one big box for me to open was saved for last and I was surprised to unwrap this beauty. Well it wasn’t assembled, and that took longer than expected, but now that it is together I’m looking forward to getting it outside and cooking up some grub.
Our New Grill
Speaking of Christmas gifts, my brother and his girlfriend got us some really great stuff too. Another item on my long list was a TV mount that can extend out and then rotate. Another friend in Denver had this kind of mount and I loved that he could put his TV away out of sight when not needed and then pull it out when he wanted. Though ours isn’t out of sight, I think it looks pretty good tucked back in our built-in bookshelves that sit on either side of our fireplace. We can then pull it out about two feet off the wall and rotate it either towards our couch in one direction, or towards the kitchen in the other direction.
TV Mounted
Trey received so many fantastic toys as gifts and he loves playing with them all, but we are quickly running out of space for them. My brother heard me complain of this multiple times before and he came up with a toy chest idea that turned out wonderful. He and his girlfriend bought the chest and then painted it (with the help of a very skilled friend) before turning it over to have it stained. The quote on top is from the Dave Matthews Band song “Grey Street.”
Toy Chest
It’s easy to see that we were really spoiled this year, and that’s before I even begin to mention things from Kim’s family such as a remote start for our new car as well as a membership to the Cincinnati Museum Center that we have already used multiple times. This year is already looking great and it has just started. Here’s to another great year for all!
Here is the list of cities I visited in 2011 with at least one night spent in each place. The list is a little lighter than years past but we did had a baby and a big cross-country move this year. I hope the list for this coming year will be longer, and maybe I will finally visit Oregon, my last remaining state to visit.
Those cities marked with an * were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.
My attempt to complete the Jenny Challenge this year is over and I did not finish the 100 miles before Christmas. I’ve continued to log my miles and I should break the century mark tomorrow, as long as the weather is good. My biggest challenge for this year was getting miles in on the weekends. Now that we are back in Cincinnati there is always something going on during the weekends, and any free time we have we like to spend with Trey, doing things that he likes.
Most of my fantasy football games are now over as well. I ended up winning one league, taking home $180! I finished in 4th place in another league, but still won $70. In my other two leagues I finished 7th and 11th. My total entry fees were $125, which I was able to double with my $250 combined winnings. There is still one week left in the pick’em game (currently 1st) and the salary cap game (currently 4th) but no money is on the line in either.
With the holiday weekend being so busy, my wife and I didn’t find much time for dining out. We did manage to get out of the house on Monday, and found our first choice for dinner was apparently closed that evening, likely in observance of Christmas. With that plan ruined I drove toward downtown with no destination in mind. I was hoping to find someplace new to try, and eventually we ended up crossing the river into Newport and stumbling upon Mokka and the Sunset Bar & Grill. It was recommended as a good breakfast spot during the Newport Gangster tour, but as it turns out they serve pretty good dinner options as well.
Since it was Monday, we were able to take advantage of their half price appetizer selections and agreed on the pesto dip – goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and pesto sauce served warm with soft and crispy pita chips. This was a really good start to our meal and at only $4.50 it was a steal! I thought I had a photo, but my phone is acting like it doesn’t exist. Bummer.
The Islander
For dinner I ordered the islander sandwich – sliced hot ham, Swiss cheese, pineapple, lettuce, tomato and jerk mayo served on grilled wheat bread – with onion rings on the side ($8). My wife ordered the goetta grinder – grilled red onions, green peppers and goetta topped with Pepper Jack cheese and mayo served on a seasoned hoagie bun – with waffle fries ($8). We tried these since they were some of the more unique items on the menu and it really paid off. We split both sandwiches and I was happy with both.
Goetta Grinder
The goetta grinder was definitely unique and I would easily order it again. The mix of peppers and onions with goetta was something I’ve never had before but I think it really worked well. The islander had pretty thick sliced ham and the pineapple was a nice touch. One thing that I would change would be the amount of butter used. It seemed that both meals were overly greasy. The grinder definitely didn’t need the butter and seasoning on top, which is visible in the photo. Other than that, we had a good meal for an affordable price. Beer prices were also fair and there were a few good craft choices on tap too.
A week ago Microsoft announced that it would start automatically upgrading its Internet Explorer browser next year. For anyone who has tried to design and support even a basic website across the plethora of available browsers, this should come as great news. Internet Explorer version 6, which is still widely used, is the hardest browser to support and it often has to have code designed specifically for it. This browser is ten years old and desperately needs to be retired. The current version released earlier this year is version 9, so it’s easy to see why the upgrades are necessary. If you are still using IE6, do yourself (and web developers everywhere) a favor and download the latest version. Or better yet, switch over to Chrome, my preferred browser.
I had a surprise work lunch outing today since one of the leads on the project that I work on was in town. The last time he was in town we ate at Bravo! and I was expecting a similar lunch. To my surprise again, we were whisked away to the Great Wolf Lodge. Not exactly where I thought we would be going when he invited me to lunch earlier this morning. However, there are a couple of dining options inside this mega hotel/water park, and the Camp Critter Bar & Grille was our destination on this visit.
Great Wolf Lodge
The inside of the spacious lobby area is festively decorated for the holiday season. I’m told that at various times in the day that they actually have fake snow that falls from the inside rafters. We did not experience this during our visit, but it is something to look out for if visiting the lodge during the holidays.
Inside Great Wolf Lodge
The rustic restaurant itself was relatively small for such a large lodge complex, but I guess there are a few other dining options inside. The lunch menu was pretty simple, a small variety of burgers and sandwiches for the most part. Everyone at our table either got the chicken sandwich or either the buffalo or regular hamburger. I ordered the chicken sandwich, which came topped with bacon, mushrooms, cheddar, and BBQ sauce along with the traditional lettuce, tomato, and onion.
Chicken Sandwich
This sandwich was much better than I was expecting from a restaurant inside of a hotel or resort. While the size of the chicken breast was a tad on the small side, the flavors of the sandwich were great and I enjoyed the addition of mushrooms to a relatively standard BBQ chicken sandwich. The sweet potato fries on the side were also good, as was the mayonnaise based dipping sauce. I don’t think the restaurant is worthy of special visit but if you find yourself in the Kings Island area, it is worth a stop over the nearby chain restaurants. The resort itself looked like a lot of fun too.
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