Yesterday, Jillian and I took a trip up to Auburn to see the Alabama A&M band play at halftime. Just kidding; although I have a feeling that some people did attend the game for that very purpose. Before I go any further, I will simply state that their halftime show was somewhere between a train wreck and an unintentional joke... not the dancing spectacular that some would tout it to be. The microphone operator happened to be the best part as he would occasionally yell things like, "YEAH!" and "POP & LOCK IT NOW". Moving on...
The game was enjoyable as it was one of the few wins Auburn has experienced this season and I had the opportunity to catch up with a friend from college. Prior to the game we were able to walk around and see the new additions to campus; the new buildings and statues in front of the stadium shown below. Afterwards we walked back by what remains of the dead/dying Toomer Oaks to see them being rolled for, possibly, one of the final times. Enjoy the photos.
I actually made an opening video... how 'bout that;
This was my second Barber Vintage Festival. There were only a few things different about this year than last. We missed side car races... again. This year we attempted to watch the dirt-bike race and missed it, so that was strike two. We did however catch the dirt bike stunt show:
Since Jillian was able to bring her bike this year she entered it in a vintage bike competition and, more importantly, was able to sneak onto the track and make a couple laps, before she was arrested...
Just kidding, no arrests. An unfortunate truth is that I don't have a decent video showing her ride down the main stretch. The trip ended well, as we made a celebratory trip to PF Changs and, as stated in the last post, was able to sneak away and speak with Jillian's father about the prospect of an upcoming engagement.
It took me a while to get around to posting this, as I've been engaged since October 20th, but if you were to ask Jillian she would tell you it took even longer getting around to proposing. She was somewhat expecting it back when we went to Gatlinburg. As I hadn't had the the chance to speak with her dad yet, I was forced to disappoint her. We recently took a trip up to Birmingham for the Barber Vintage Festival and I was lucky enough to find a little time to sneak away and accomplish that task. so, with ring in hand and parental blessing, the time was at hand. She had recently suggested trying out the dining hall at the Grand Hotel in Fairhope, so I thought it was a perfect opportunity. Turns out, she thought the same thing and was why she suggested it. Sneaky one she is. Well, we went early in the evening to try and catch the sunset from a window seat and just missed it. The atmosphere of the restaurant was very nice (but COLD); There was even a woman playing elevator music on the piano and taking requests. A side note: I requested "Girl from Ipanema" but left before she had the chance to play it. The food was as pricey as expected but delicious and the chef decided that we were hungry enough to send us complimentary chocolate truffles and strawberries after our desert. Stuffed, I asked her to join me for a stroll along the water.
My plan was to have her walk with me to a swing we had once sat in the night of a friends wedding, but a current wedding reception blocked us and was blaring, what I seem to remember as, 80's rap music. She convinced me to walk the other direction and we sat at an equally lovely spot with a great view of the shore line and out of earshot of the reception. I'll spare you all the things I said, but I ended on my knee and she said, "yes".
Here's a photo of the ring:
We've since made a website for our wedding, planned for next October. Feel free to check it out here.
If you (and I mean me) can look past the recent Auburn football games, which included losses to a crappy LSU and an even worse Arkansas, then the last two weekends were pretty nice. Last weekend I had wins in both my fantasy football leagues, which I hope to repeat tonight following, what I expect to be, a crushing of the NY Jets by a vastly superior Houston Texans team.
Last weekend also marked the second time Jillian and I have had a "make your own pizza" date night. Always fun. I think we both ended up making Hawaiian Style, but mine featured much less greenery. Pics below:
You're first reaction is probably,:"HOLY CRAP!, the one on the left looks so much more delicious!". Thanks, It also tasted more delicious. I consider myself a bit of a pizza making genius. Jillian's pizza was pretty good too. :)
This past weekend had a little more excitement than pizza making. Jillian had been having trouble with her new Motorola Droid Razr Maxx for the past two months and was so frustrated I was afraid she would start kicking bags of puppies. Yeah, THAT angry. Anyway, our goal for Saturday was to stomp into a Verizon store, wait for a crowd and go absolutely apes*%t until someone offered us a trade for the Samsung Galaxy S 3. Fortunately, we didn't have to go through with our plans as a sales associate was nice enough to give us the blueprints for success. After about half an hour on the phone, we talked with an individual with the power to trade phones. He wasn't able to offer us a GS3, but he would trade for a Galaxy Nexus, which I wanted. We ended up taking the trade and adding me to Jillian's phone plan (with the intention of promptly cancelling my awful C-Spire contract). With the new line, Jillian was able to get her GS3 and all was right in the world.
Yesterday, (Sunday) We visited the St. James Episcopal Church. It was my first Episcopal service and I was very surprised by how similar it was the the Catholic Mass. We both were big fans of the service so I expect we'll probably be making a return trip in the near future.
This coming weekend We'll be making our way back to Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL for the Vintage Motorcycle Festival. I'm sure I'll have some more great pictures and videos afterwards like I did last year. More then...
I think it should also be noted to my future self, that this month (well, maybe technically the end of last month) marked the first full season of watching Australian Rules Football as a fan of the Brisbane Lions. They didn't make the playoffs this year, but had some great comeback wins against top 5 teams (West Coast and Adelaide). I can genuinely say that I enjoy watching Aussie rules nearly as much as college football. Go Lions! #Footyfix
It finally arrived. The greatest season of all (yeah Summer... I said it). Like years prior, I've been engrossing myself in offseason rumors, recruiting, practice reviews and coach speak... all so I can get my hopes up to a level that requires my heart be at it's most fragile state. With grand expectations for week one, Jillian and I set off for Atlanta's Georgia Dome and the Chic-fil-A SECvsACC kickoff against Clemson. We met up with friend and local resident, Thomas, to sort out our sleeping arrangements and then set off for the stadium with booze in hand.
For some reason, we thought arriving 3 hours before game-time was early, but the parking situation suggested otherwise. All the dome parking lots were full so we ended up trusting some guys in a mechanic shop parking lot to not break into my truck after I gave them $20 and walked off. It ended up being a pretty decent space, for being only 3 blocks from the Dome.
We ran into Clemson fan early and often. A lot more had made the trip than I had anticipated. The majority were college age who were already drunk and throwing up in port-a-potties (and passing out roofies... and not being subtle about it) We met up with some other friends, got our tickets and danced our way inside. Or at least that's what I remember... b/c I had consumed generous amounts of adult beverage in those 3 city blocks.
Just like the last time we came to the Georgia Dome, the security staff were checking men's pockets and women's purses to make sure nothing was being brought in... and just like last time, the woman who checked Jillian's purse completely ignored her rum flask and didn't pat my pockets filled with minis. Jackpot.
The game started off well enough. Clemson got a field goal and then we answered with a 54 yard touchdown pass to a wide open receiver. That's just about the time things started going downhill. Within the course of the next few hours, my confidence in the season shattered, I began yelling drunk "jokes" to anyone who would listen and had an unfortunate talk with a 12yr old about how he should avoid drugs and whores. By the end I realized we might be in for a long season. Our offense couldn't move the ball and, most concerning, our defense looked like it couldn't tackle Michael J Fox wearing wet soap shoes on a freshly waxed marble floor. (I'm not quite sure that analogy makes any sense...)
Anyway, the game ends and I eat crow in front of the Clemson fans I called names and then apologized to the mother for my language, get up and go back to Thomas' apartment to set up an air mattress and go to sleep. We get up early, we drive home and enjoy the rest of our 3 day weekend.
Auburn 0-1
September 8th rolls around and we play Missippi State. Repeat all the happenings of above, but exchange the Georgia Dome for Jillian's house, switch up some of the friends and add cornhole. Cornhole was fun. Watching the Auburn game against Mississippi State was not. Game followed by watching Louisiana Monroe (our next opponent) upset #8 Arkansa.
Auburn 0-2
Sept 17th: After two rather dismal football games, Jillian and I decide to abandon any outside company and watch the game by ourselves. There was still a lot of alcohol and yelling but solitude seemed to do the trick. Auburn ends up squaking out a win in overtime. Whew.
Auburn 1-2
September 22nd gives us our second SEC game of the year against #2 LSU. Nick had invited us over to his house so he could rub a certain loss in our face. Jillian and I decided instead to go to the beach and soak in the sun. I was really surprised to see the diversity of football fandom around us. I spotted Arkansas, LSU, Florida State, Tennesee (lesbians), Bamers... I feel like I'm forgetting one. Anyway, there were a lot of people there and the weather was pretty much perfect. That may have been why the hermit crabs decided to make it their spring break. They were everywhere. It also happened to be the first time I had ever seen dolphins at the beach jumping completely out of the water and not just riding waves.
ANYWAY, we ended up getting back in town just as the game was starting so we set the dvr to record, washed up and put our cellphones away. The game ended up being a nail-biter as we ended up leading at half time and keeping the lead until about 5 minutes left in the game, passed up by a field goal. Ultimately, and in the usual heart-breaking fashion, Auburn failed to get points on the final 2 minute drive. What made this more heart-breaking was that I checked my phone about 1 minute before the end, saw 20 missed text messages and was convinced we had pulled off the miracle upset. Instead, I was just upset.
Auburn 1-3... yet much improved.
Just a note, This was the first time in Auburn school history that the football team had lost 3 games before October 1st.
Second Note: For the sake of history, This September also saw the result of the NFL officials strike... and some of the worst replacement officiating the game the NFL has ever seen. The lockout ended today (Sept 28)
1. I learned in August the "joys" of selling things on Craig's List. To earn a little extra money to go toward an engagement ring (shh it's a secret...) I decided to try to sell a few things locally and learned a few things pretty quick; like making sure I put "Cash Only. No Trades. No Shipping". It's amazing how many people are proponents of the bartering system or want you to ship them things to Michigan. My experience in general was pretty good. Sold a couple things, and had my time wasted with some others... which brings me to the next topic.
2. I sold my Jeep.
This was a painful transaction in someway. The Jeep was by far my most prized vehicle and a large part of my college experience (good and bad). It had more than it's fair share of problems and after sitting up in my parents shed for more than a year, it was time to let it go. The guy who bought it told me he and his son were going to restore it together so I knew it was going to a good home. I'm still going to miss it on those sunny fall days.
3. I got one year older. I hit the big 31 in fact. I was expecting a nice quiet birthday dinner with Jillian... b/c that's just what she wanted me to think. Turned out she had organized a surprise party for me at Fly Creek Cafe. It took me a second to figure it out when I saw my brother there, initially thought it was coincidence, and then noticed the rest of my family and a couple friends. It was definitely a treat and always enjoyable to be publicly embarrassed by those you care about.
4. Hurricane Isaac was devastating for parts of Louisiana and Mobile... or at least that last part was supposed to be accurate; which is why I took half of my office home with me the Monday before it made landfall. What it turned into was 3 days of me working at home because of a bad thunderstorm. There was some damage though. I had a branch fall on my house and the protective cover I had on my camper was shredded by the wind (pictured below). I did learn something from this experience though. I will never be productive when I work from the house. It's just not possible.
It appears I have a lot of catching up to do, blog-wise (if that's a word), so I'll try to recall as much as I can from the last two months, most importantly, the the trip Jillian and I took to Gatlinburg, TN.
The last week in July, Jillian and I drove up to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for a shared birthday weekend. It's her favorite place to vacation and I've certainly enjoyed the area the last couple times I went in college. Showing a difference in vacationing styles, this one, thanks to Jillian, was planned out to perfection and there were very few moments were we found ourselves wandering around looking for things to do.
To stray from my normal day by day reproduction of events I'll say that the overall trip was a lot of fun. We took Stella for a walk through the mountains and saw the remains of an old settlement, there was a morning devoted to white-water rafting, we spent a day driving a CanAm Spyder down the Cherohala Skyway and through the 'Tail of the Dragon', and even spared a little time to ride some 40mph go-carts in downtown Pigeon Forge. There were a couple surprises to the trip; most of which involved the cabin we rented. Apparently, there were some air conditioning problems to go along with their broken wifi, but those both took a backseat to the wasps above the hot tub that stung Jillian on the finger day two. Some pleasant surprises included how well Stella behaved around all the strangers in downtown Gatlinburg, and how accepting the shop owners were of letting her walk around the shops with us.
In the end we had a great time, were able to bring back some great souvenirs (including some regional beer and moonshine) and were able to get a better idea of the place we someday hope to get married.
Went to the barber after work today. As is usually the case, I had let my hair get so long it was absolutely disgusting to look at. What is not as usual is that I was paying more attention to my hair clippings than normal. It just so happened that the overwhelming amount of grey strands were a little difficult to ignore. I guess the normal use of "overwhelming" would suggest roughly 90%, so I suppose I should clarify. It was actually somewhere in the range of 5%; still far too much in my opinion.
So, seeing this amount of grey hair, I have become very aware that, at best, I probably have another 5 years before I am mostly silver-topped. This gives me two options: I need to start investing in 'Just for Men' or start accepting the fact that I'm getting old. I'm thinking I'm going to need to adjust my budget.
I've never been a huge fan of trips to any DMV in Alabama; I'm sure that sentence could very well have just ended with DMV. With that said, I had the recent pleasure of a number of trips to a couple of them in Mobile, AL. Six trips in fact.
Trip one: Wed 5/30- I had needed to make a trip to a DMV to take the test for the Motorcycle provision on my drivers license. Jillian and I have planned to rent a CanAm Spyder during our vacation next month in Gatlinburg TN. I thought that with little on my plate at work for the day, I would take a quick trip during lunch to get it out of the way. After a conversation with a coworker, it appeared that there was only one location in the area that offered "written tests" for licenses (Demotropolis Street). I took the 10 minute drive down the road, walked in, noticed a full room (but not a overly large number of people; around 40), took a number and had a seat. A few numbers were called and I realized that there were only two people working windows and there were not different lines. I was last in the line of 40 moving very slowly.
Two hours later, my number is actually called. Very thankful that I don't have a extremely strict lunch hour at work, I get out of my uncomfortable seat and stand in a line of eight other people who's number has just been called. It takes another 15 minutes to get to a window where a surprisingly pleasant older woman listens to my request and sets up a computer for me to take my motorcycle test.
Taking my test, it seems like the State of Alabama is more concerned about my not riding while intoxicated than my knowledge of motorcycle operation or laws. My first question asked about helmets, there were a few about road conditions and the last three were about drinking alcohol. Now that I think about it, maybe the DMV knows me better than it should. I thought there were going to be a lot of other questions, but the test abruptly ended. I suppose I had answered everything right and further questioning was unnecessary. I worked my way back to the window I had been at and pulled out my wallet to pay the dues for replacing my license.
Being the helpful woman she was, the lady at the window informs me that my license was a couple weeks away from needing to be renewed and that if I got a new license today, it would cost me a replacement fee and then a renewal fee within weeks. I decided to decline the immediate replacement and go to a more efficient DMV later. Finishing my business, I went back to work.
Trip 2: Fri 6/8 - I had received a notice in the mail that my truck tag needed renewing and I thought I could probably knock out two birds with one stone. This time I was going to be smart and go to the office just down from work. It was a newer building, with TV's and about 20 working windows. I got there early, was given a number and only waited about 10 minutes before I was called directly to a window. Taking care of my car tag was a breeze but when I mentioned needing to renew my drivers license, I was put back into line in the lobby. That turned out to be an equally short wait and I was back at a window. Unfortunately, I was quickly told I was ONE day too early trying to renew my license and there was no getting around it. She said that all I needed to do was come back Monday and it would be taken care of.
Trip 3: Mon 6/11 - I didn't get back to the DMV close to work as early as I had hoped, so I had about an hour and a half wait before I made it back to the same window I had stood at the previous Friday. A quick explanation of my previous visits and my purpose and I was informed that they would not be able to both renew my license and place the Motorcycle provision on the new license at that location. I would need to go back to Demotropolis. After a minute or two of unproductive arguments about what I had been told before, I left empty handed.
Trip 4: Tue 6/12 - I felt another long lunch trip would do the trick, so I left my office around 11:30 to get there ahead of any other people who might have the same idea. I didn't take into account that not all people in Mobile work for a living or they are smart enough to take a full day off for a DMV trip. I get there and the population is at least twice as large as trip one. There are no open, uncomfortable chairs. Standing room only. I ask the lady handing out tickets the approximate waiting time and she says, "about 3 hours" as she attempts to hand me a ticket. "HA, no thanks" is my only response as I walk back out the door.
Trip 5: Fri 6/16 - I took a few days off to cool down, b/c these failed attempts were really starting to eat away at me. Friday rolls around and I wake up at 5am, for two reasons. The first was that I wanted to try and catch an Australian Rules Football game live (started at 5:30) and I wanted to get to the Demotropolis location before it opened. Another coworker had mentioned that they had never had trouble getting a good spot in line when they showed up before 7am and that this was just when the DMV opened.
I was a little slow getting out of the house so I didn't make it to the building until around 7:05, and pulling up noticed there was a line outside the door. My hope was that the government employees were taking their sweet time opening the doors. My fear was that 7am was not actually the time they opened. I parked, took my place in line (about 20 people back) and started to chit-chat with those around me. It didn't seem at first that anyone knew the exact time that they opened. A minute or two passed and a guy walked up with the answer. 8am. That was enough for me. I was not going to wait an hour to get in the door before waiting another hour in a chair. I instead chose a 5 minute line in the Krystals down the street.
Trip 6: Later that day - I decided that I was just going to suck it up and sit in that building until I either accomplished my goal or died of starvation. So back I went for another lunch trip, waited another two hours for my number to be called and eventually made my way back to a window. Standing in line right before the window I thought to myself, 'What if by some work of satan, they have lost or deleted the data related to me passing my Motorcycle test, and that I am indeed stuck in a hellish cycle of DMV trips that never end. Getting to the window, I joked about the very same fact, and to my utter disappointment, the woman said, "yeah, I'm not actually seeing anything under your drivers license that says you took the test". I started laughing, partially thinking she's joking and partially because it was all I could do to not start weeping uncontrollably. I tried to keep my cool and explained to the woman that I had taken the test in that very building only a couple weeks ago and that there had to be some sort of record of it. She ended up looking up tests by date, found my results and then took my picture. To add some insult to injury, and due to what I believe was a loss of a piece of my soul during this whole process, my new drivers license makes me look like a Meth Addict.
Now that I have both the Vessel and Motorcycle provisions on my license, unless someday I decide to become a commercial driver, I should never need to go through this process ever again.
The last two weeks have been pretty busy. It started the Wednesday before last when I had to go pick up a friends dog b/c they thought it had bitten a child (turned out not to be the case) but she wanted me to keep Bruce(the dog) until she got back in town that weekend. It also happened to be the weekend that I had agreed to watch another pair of dogs for the weekend and following week. On top of that, I had agreed to go to the Hangout Music Festival with Jillian So basically I had agreed to be three places at once from Friday to Sunday. Fortunately, I have two brothers willing to do favors.
The Hangout Music Festival was a lot of fun, but extremely hot; being at the beach didn't help. I was able to see a few bands that I really enjoyed. "Dispatch" brought back some favorable college memories. I heard "The Lumineers" play my favorite song (of their making).We missed the "Alabama Shakes" because they were an early Friday show but I managed to catch "Skrillex", "Sound Tribe Sector 9", "Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros", "Julian Marley" and ended Saturday and Sunday night with "Red Hot Chili Peppers" and "Dave Matthews" (Jillian's favorite and the reason we were there).
Here are some Photos and Video of the festival. The video is actually of Jillian fist-bumping Gary Clark Jr after a private show for the VIPs:
The following week consisted mainly of driving back and forth across the bay to work and take care of dogs/house sit.I would say there wasn't too much to the week, but I managed to lock myself out of the house I was watching, resulting in a nice $75 bill from a locksmith. I also learned that if I ever get a dog, it will be trained to NEVER jump on anyone.
I took that Friday off,, handed over the house sitting duties, and Jillian and I made our way to Atlanta for a rehearsal dinner and wedding. Gavin and Jessica were gracious enough to let us stay at their house yet again while they were away and we arrived in Atlanta with just enough time to shower change and make it to The Capital Grille in Buckhead. The free wine was nice, but the Filet Mignon and cheesecake were phenomenal. It was a nice dinner followed by a number of very well spoken toasts to the future bride and groom. This was a room filled with many of Jillian's best friends from high school so I made it a point to befriend as many of them as possible in the little time I had. I managed get to know one of them before I was drunk.
We had a little more time to prepare for the Wedding the next day, and unfortunately the day started with Jillian getting a real terrible migraine. Fortunately, she was able to get a bit of rest before we ran off to Panera Bread to get food for the rest of the weekend and then went out to the pool to relax. I managed to get a nice sunburn on my shoulders within an hour and squeezed in a delicious ham, bacon and cheese bagel sandwich before getting ready for the wedding.
The wedding was outdoors and the invitation said it was a relaxed atmosphere, but I was told to act like it was a normal evening wedding. I showed up in a coat and tie like half of those in attendance. There were many who decided to ditch the coat and tie and some who took the "relaxed atmosphere" to heart and showed up in polo shirts and shorts. It being a 100+ degree southern day, a part of me had wished I had done the same.. especially with it being an outdoor wedding.
The service was short and simple; with an 3 piece band and a cycle rickshaw to carry the bride around. It was the kind of wedding you would see in a southern living magazine... with some extra sweat mixed in. Post wedding we went to the reception, ate some bbq, got our drink on and danced the evening away. It was a pretty rockin' party. Jillian tried to get the band to play a song I could Karaoke to but they didn't take too kindly to requests and/or her being so close to their Ipads showing song tableture (which I thought was cheating). At some point, I wandered off with a stranger and we took shots like we were 21 again. It didn't work out too well for him. I survived but regretted it. After a few conversation with new friends, Jillian and I took our party back to the "Hotel".
That Sunday morning, we got up, finished off our bagel sandwich leftovers, left our hosts a letter for their suggestion box, and took to the road. The drive back home, as always, was unbearably long. There was a silver lining though b/c the next day was Memorial Day, which meant we had one more day off work.
Monday wasn't all relaxing though. My youngest brother, Andrew, had decided to enlist in the Army and we decided to throw him a surprise going away party. Jillian decided to make it something extremely memorable so we went to WalMart and picked up some ridiculous items including SpongeBob Party hats and Vienna Sausage to give to him as a gift. The party turned out to be a lot of fun and I hope it was as memorable as we hoped. The picture below is of him opening a gift from my mom:
Tuesday was a productive day at work so I was free today to study the Alabama Motorcycle License Manual in my office before going to the DMV during lunch. At least, I though it would just be my lunch hour. Of course, it turned into a two and a half hour venture. It took me 3 minutes to pass the test giving me a DVM class license. I'm just short the Commercial license now. I also found out while I was there that Class A RV's don't require a commercial license even though they are as large as a school bus. I found that very interesting but nice to know considering I would one day like to have one.
I think the bulk of excitement has finished for a while. There may not be many things to write about until my next vacation takes Jillian and I to Gatlinburg, TN.
Jillian recently convinced me to go to the beach (twice) for the first time in several years. It was a lot of what I remember from my childhood: A relaxing breeze, interesting people watching and a fierce sunburn, regardless of how much time I actually spend out in the sun. I actually stayed under the sun blocking umbrella the entire second trip and still burned. I am far too white for the beach.
Having said that, I'll be spending this coming weekend there, out in the sun for a collective 24 hours, for The Hangout Music Festival. Jillian bought us tickets so she could go see Dave Mathews as the final band on Sunday. I'm hoping to catch a few more artists throughout the weekend; like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jack White, Randy Newman and The Lumineers(being the lesser known band).
I'm sure I'll have more to talk about after the show... and hopefully a few nice pictures in accompaniment.
I've decided to take a quick break at work to jot down a couple things about April that I think are note-worthy.
1. At the beginning of April I was asked to get some Audit work together for our year end internal audit. It turned out that a question the auditors had couldn't be answered easily because after asking I discovered that what I had submitted was wrong. To sum up what could be a long story, I stayed at work for 30 straight hours to correct a mistake(s) made throughout the 2011. The stress and lack of sleep I experienced was terrible. It was actually the first time in my life that I had the urge to vomit from stress. I wanted to make a note of this so when I read it in the future, I'm reminded to do things right the first time so I don't EVER have to go through this again.
2. I had been planning for several months after my last trip out in the pop-up camper to buy the heavy duty extension cord that we had lacked for the air conditioner and lights. While getting my oil changed at WalMart (because they were the only place on Sunday) I happened upon the exact cord I needed. It was pretty exciting b/c I thought I was going to have to drive out of my way to Robertsdale to buy one from a camper city store for $70. I ended up getting one from Wally World for $50 and spent the difference on a Camper designed water filtration system. Booyah!
3. Probably the most important one for last: Jillian and I went to Ware's in Spanish for last Saturday to look at engagement rings. I thought it was somewhat uncommon for a couple to go ring shopping before the proposal, but I want her ring to be perfect when I choose it and only she knows what she really wants. It gave us both a really great opportunity to learn more about rings; my own knowledge was very limited. The trip was especially useful for me because I got a much more specific picture of the type of ring she would like. Step 1: Find ring - Almost complete.
Jillian entered her bike in it's second vintage competition... and should have placed!!
The first weekend of April we put the bike on the trailer and hauled it out to Dauphin Island for the show and made a nice little day of it right off the beach. We actually entered it in the correct category this time and I thought it had a great chance at winning at least 3rd place (there were some really nice bikes). It was a bit of a slap in the face at the end b/c the bike that won first place was a piece of garbage. It was rusted throughout and didn't even run. It was almost like the guy pulled it out of a trash pile and propped it up. It only won b/c it was really old and uncommon. Anyway, Jillian has recently ordered some additional stock parts online and hopes to have them on the bike for the next show. I really think she has a good shot at winning at the next time we go to Forte Conde.
Here are a couple shots of the show:
Paddle:
My brother Andrew and I decided to go on a paddle down Black Water River in Florida before he heads off for Army basic training in June. I've included a couple pictures. There wasn't much to the trip. We did run into a bunch of drunks and rednecks... and drunk rednecks which wasn't the most fun when your trying to enjoy a peaceful float but it wasn't too bad. Also, I guess the local fire department was doing to river training... b/c they were flying up and down the river in a 10ft john boat, with very little regard for their wake. Anyway Enjoy the pictures.
New Suit:
Jillian bought me a pretty badass motorcycle jacket for our upcoming trip to Gatlinburg, TN. We plan on renting a CanAm Spyder and riding along the famous "dragon's tail". I went ahead and bought a nice helmet to go along with it.
I've been meaning to post a few things for about a month so I guess now is as good a time as any.
GARAGE SALE:
In the first weekend of March (last month) Jillian and I had a garage sale to try and raise a couple hundred dollars for our Snowboarding trip the following week. I'll admit, Jillian did pretty much all of the prep work; Advertising, making signs and organizing the garage. I was mainly there to collect cash and look pretty. We took the road less traveled with garage sales in the area and made it Fri - Sun.
Friday morning, the rush began... around 6:30. It was shocking. I did not expect that many people to be out and about before I would have even been awake for a normal workday, but that was definitely the case. My lawnmower was purchased within the first couple hours and some "professional yardsaler" went through Jillian's items pretty quick. I had a guy go through the records I was getting rid of and pull out just first additions. He definitely knew what he was doing as well.
Friday and Saturday stayed pretty busy for us until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon and we ended up selling about 80% of what we had available. TVs, dvds, games, clothes, lawn equipment, my karaoke machine, a pinball machine and some furniture. You name it and we probably had it. We even had a fussball table for sale that sold early, the lady said she would come back for and is to this day sitting in Jillian's new game room.
In the end the two of us split about $1500.00 which I thought was pretty amazing.
SNOWBOARDING: (might be long)
Luckily, Jillian kept a pretty detailed journal of the trip, so I haven't really had to rely heavily on my extremely sub-par memory. I had originally decided to make a video log of it but, as you'll see, that lasted all of one day.
March 14:
Jillian and I woke up around 2am to drive from Daphne, AL to New Orleans, LA for a 7am flight. The traffic was light but the fog was pretty awful. Definitely not safe driving conditions but Jillian's a pro behind the wheel. We made it to the airport with a good amount of time to spare even though we had some slight difficulty finding our way to the extended stay parking lot we were using. Check-in was quick as was our first screening of the day. Our flight was on time and we took off for Salt Lake City, Utah (our first and only layover). I didn't step foot outside the airport, mainly because our layover was short, but from what I saw of Salt Lake City, I was not overly impressed. It looked like an incredibly boring place to live. I don't even recall seeing trees.
Anyway, we hopped on our second flight of the day and made it into Bozeman, Montana around 12:30 were I had to make a short... 20 minute stop in the restroom to pay for abusing my body with a Taco Bell feast the night prior. It's also where I shot this video... NOT in the bathroom... but in the airport.
AND... that was the last video I shot on my phone. We did happen to have a new GoPro Hero 2 HD camera for the slopes so there will be a video from that later.
So, after the airport bathroom we hopped on a bus that drove us to Big Sky Resort, which was 1.5 hours away. The bus drive was pretty knowledgeable about the area and had a number of fun facts for us. We even drove by Ted Turners ranch and saw some of his horses and buffalo. I think we would have learned a lot more about the area, but some guy from Michigan kept asking him questions about the hunting in the state.
We showed up about 2:45 and found out that our rooms weren't going to be ready until 5, so we decided to go ahead and grab our snowboard gear from the rental shop. We lucked up and happened to rent our gear from probably the biggest pot-head in Montana, who accidentally charged us half price for our boards and boots. We walked around a bit more to get familiar with the place and then headed back to the lobby to pick up our room keys.
I should preface the rest of this story with the fact that Jillian has mentioned on numerous occasions that she is one of the unluckiest people on the planet, but I think something about the altitude seemed to change that. If you ignore the half price snowboard rentals, her luck started when the guy at the front desk gave us an extra set of breakfast vouchers. After unloading our stuff, I started feeling a really nauseous and like I had a fever. It was pretty awful, but after I laid down for a while the feeling went away so I tried to ignore it and Jillian and I went out for a nice dinner.
There was a place at the ski resort called the cabin which had been talked highly of by a few people we had spoken to, so we had to check it out. Unfortunately, it was on the third floor of a building with no elevator and , later realizing that how I was feeling earlier was the result of altitude sickness, making the trip up the stairs basically made me feel like crap again during our nice dinner. I couldn't even enjoy my first taste of Elk meat. After that lovely experience, I just went to bed hoping I was over it by morning.
March 15: (I'll try to keep the rest of the days shorter)
My free breakfast was pretty awesome, although I didn't realize the voucher said "tip included" so I made a bit of an ass of myself when I told the waiter I was sorry but I forgot to bring my wallet with me and I'd have to catch him later. While I ate, Jillian was in her first Dental Conference meeting, which I failed to mention was the reason why we were there. Afterwards, I sat in the hotel room watching ABC family's week-long Harry Potter marathon (which was awesome) until Jillian got back with the great news that she had won a $50 gift certificate door prize for restaurant called Buck's T-4. After a short celebration for her first ever door prize we headed out to the bunny slopes outside our hotel room.
For never having been skiing or on a snowboard, Jillian did really well. She didn't think so because of the falling, but she did a lot better than I did when I was an athletic 17 year old. Now being a chubby 30 year old fart, I was struggling to stand up from the sitting position so it was a bit of a learning/relearning day for us both. We did end up going down a couple of the green slopes before we called it an evening. Later on we took a bus down the mountain to a place in the town center called Choppers. It was a nice little sports bar where I found it necessary to get a big ol' glass of Guiness. Afterwards we tried to go shopping but only came across a local's bar and a small grocery store, so we picked up a few snacks for the slopes and hotel room and then headed back up the mountain.
March 16:
Jillian's luck continued in the morning as she was given a prepaid lift ticket that had another two days left on it, saving us over $100. We ended up spending the majority of the day on the bunny slopes again b/c for some unknown reason, everything we had learned the day before had leaked out of our brains and onto our pillows as we slept. That afternoon, Jillian and I went to her dental convention's meet and greet where I was introduced to a fellow dentist, named Cindi (and her husband Bill), she had befriended during their morning meetings and this lovely fellow (in a bottle). It won my heart almost instantly... the rest of the evening is a blur.
March 17: (St. Patrick's Day)
Being Saturday, we had planned to make it our big day of snowboarding so we started out on what was one of the longer green slopes called the Pacifier. It turned out to be exhausting and aggravating as the majority of our time was spent falling down a rather large hill, so we took a break and went back to the "smaller" green slopes later that afternoon. Before we called it quits for the day, I actually went down my first blue slope (accidentally) of the trip.
We had originally hoped to have stayed up and partied a bit for St. Patrick's day and went to a local bar called Whiskey Jacks who was supposed to have an Irish folk music band playing around 9:30. It was about the time we sat down at the bar that we realized just how much a day of snowboarding had taken out of us, so we didn't make it long enough to hear any music. I wasn't really upset at all. We were both pretty exhausted.
March 18:
We did a lot of snowboarding. I foolishly went up to the top of one of the mountains and not halfway up the lift, a mini blizzard rolled in essentially making any object more than 3 feet in front of me invisible. After some very slow moving down the hill, the snow falling snow ceased and I gained just enough speed to crash violently and hit my head hard enough to convince me that my snowboarding day was over. We used Jilllian's $50 gift card at Buck T-4s and agreed that it wasn't that great. We slept.
March 19:
Jillian won another door prize. This time a $25 gift certificate to a souvenir shop nearby which vanished almost as quickly as he had received it. We had decided against buying another day of lift tickets based on our near physical inability to stand without aching. Instead we (and by we I mean Jillian) did some packing and then hit up the hot tub for several hours. Afterwards we got back in our snowboarding clothes to go make snow angels and a four foot snowman. That night we went back to the Cabin to enjoy our last dinner on the mountain.
March 20:
Flights are never exciting on your way back home, and such was especially the case this time. A few tornadoes had been moving through Texas and ended up rerouting our plane, putting us back in New Orleans around 10:30pm. To make matters worse, traffic just outside of the airport was at a stand-still due to road construction/cleaning/something... so we had to take a 30 min detour to get moving again.I was unable to stay awake in the car so thankfully Jillian was driving yet again. We ended up making it back to Daphne around 2am.
End of Trip. Enjoy the snowboarding video we made:
I've been a bit of a blogger recluse for a while so here's my lame atttempt to make up for it. Last month, Jillian and I got tickets from my buddy Nick, mentioned in several prior posts involving alchohol, for a Crewe of Columbus ball in Mobile AL. It was originally going to be a group of 8 but we had two couples drop out leaving the two of us and my friend Gavin and his wife.
We had some mexican for dinner and all took a taxi to the civic center where the ball was being held. This was the first time I think I had ever gone to a ball and not had a special invite to stay downstairs during the festivities; eat and drink before any of the guest came down from the balcony of the civic center. This time, the four of us were part of the "guest" croud and had to wait through the painfully long introductions of Crewe members while sober. After about an hour of the normal bs and bad dancing, we got the opportunity to go downstairs and grab fingerfoods and booze (which was greatly needed). We ate some pretty good finger foods in the rooms downstairs and ended up getting some big suvenier cups for our 'dranks'.
After filling up on some liquid courage and chatting with some people we knew from high school, we made our way to the dance floor. I can't recall the name of the band that was playing but they had some really great singers and were able to cover pretty much everything including Michael Jackson's "don't stop til you get enough" (perfectly). After improv versions of the twist and the robot, we took a seat to rest our feet. That's when this picture was taken:
We stuck around for about 20 minutes more and then I called the cab guy again to grab us. I don't remember getting back to Daphne... b/c... I was tired and in no way hammered. I do remember waking up well rested though. It was a pretty good night.
Part two of my original "adultification" post came a bit unexpectedly. I had planned to buy new furniture a few months ago to replace the mismatched college/batchelor pad furniture I had in my living room. Unfortunately, my financial situation changed when my brother moved out of the house and the bills became priority number one.
Recently however, my brother's girlfriend decided that she wanted a new L-shaped couch to replace the ones she already had and was kind enough to offer them to me for free. The only catch was that I would have to pick them up and clean them. I should note that she, at the time, had three dogs living with her and frequently used the couch themselves and there were a number of stains to deal with.
I decided it was worth giving the couches a try considering they were a nice microfiber and I had heard that it's pretty easy to clean. I wish I had taken a picture of the couches when I got them, and I don't want this blog to become an ad for OxiClean, but a single wash of the cushions with that stuff and they looked like they came right from the store. It was pretty impressive. Even better, there was little to no damage to the cushion padding so the couch works great. So, two couches ended up costing me a total of $8. Not too shabby.
Now I just have to find a place to put that white sofa. Hopefully it will sell in the garage sale I'll have in March.
Auburn played Virginia in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl this past December 31st and Jillian and I were fortunate enough to have tickets to the game. My friend Gavin and his wife were kind enough to let us stay at their house while we were in Atlanta and it was incredibly convenient in terms of distance to the stadium.
I was expecting a lot of orange and blue at the game but forgot that we use the exact same colors so identifying your own fanbase from the enemy was pretty difficult. Although, the Virginia fans would definitely give it away when they yelled "roll tide". Side Note: What is it with fans of out of conference teams yelling that? Why not yell "Go Virginia"? Oregon Ducks fans did that at the BCS NCG last year too. ANYWAY...
I liked our seats even thought they were nose-bleeds in the Georgia Dome (see pic below). Jillian did a good job of getting tickets in an Auburn section. I ended up sitting by a very nice elderly woman (who started crying after the game when they played "Auld Lang Syne") and Jillian had the misfortune of sitting next to a very, very drunk college girl who had obviously never been to a football game before. Apart from some awkwardness from the crying and the annoyances of a drunk asking stupid questions, the game was enjoyable... once Auburn decided to play QB Barret Trotter.
Auburn ended up winning 43 to 24 and we stuck around with a few other fans for the trophy presentation and to grab some souvenir posters that had been left in the seats. The presentation ended at around 11:40 so we had just enough time to make our way down the road to a hotel bar to watch the ball drop in NYC and drink some free champagne. We decided to call it an early night after that and went back to Gavin's place (stopping once at Krystals so I could feed my face).
