Allie's Playset

Yesterday morning, Jillian and I were doing some pre-Christmas house chores to get the place ready for the holidays. About the time we were finishing up, Jillian checked her facebook and saw that my dad had purchased a swingset/slide combo play area for our neice, Allie. The picture he posted was basically of 100 pieces of wood laying on the ground so she asked me if I wanted to go over and help out; which I did.
We both ended up going over to help and after about 4 1/2 hours it was done. Even for something made in China, it had terrible directions. I'm just glad it appears to be fairly stable. It was a fun family project though. Hopefully, Allie loves it and doesn't destroy it. If/when Jillian and I have kids, it would be great if this set is still in tact. I would not look forward to constructing another one.

New Orleans Trip - Anniversary Gift Edition

I'm not sure if I had mentioned it before but, for our first anniversary, Jillian bought us tickets to the New Orleans' Saints vs the Carolina Panthers (featuring once-Auburn quarterback Cam Newton). It was a mid-Sunday game so it was perfect for making a weekend trip out of it.
After our Saturday morning drive to N.O., we grabbed lunch at a place west of downtown called Parkway Bakery and Tavern. It had received rave reviews on TripAdvisor and Food Network. We split a roast beef po-boy and chili fries. Despite the irony, I'll say that it was nothing to write about. I will say, however, that there were a lot of people outside eating and drinking so maybe there was something good to eat there that we didn't know about.

We finished lunch around 12:30 and made our way toward our hotel. With the perfect opportunity to earn some more hhonors points, we had booked the Hilton Riverside hotel for the night. A little pricey, but perfectly situated downtown. Unfortunately, the place straddles train tracks and we ended up with a room right next to them. It was a nice room though.

After we unpacked the car we hit the streets. I had been given the reins to make all trip decisions and really wanted to see the National WWII museum located down the road, so that was where we headed. About half way there, however, we got side-tracked when we heard Christmas music in the distance. A few streets over there was a Christmas parade in progress so we ran through a couple parks between business buildings to get in on the action. For any kind of New Orleans parade, it was surprisingly small; a local family event of sorts. Based on the participants, I think it was a collection of local elementary schools that put the parade together with the help of some local businesses.

The parade ended about 20 minutes after we arrived and we promptly made our way to the WWII museum; stopping only for Jillian to take a picture of the street with yellow leaves on the ground.

The WWII museum was enjoyable, but heavily focused on D-Day and the war in the pacific so that was a little disappointing. I think it was very informative for Jillian who doesn't have the same interest in all things WWII. She didn't make it through all of the 'war in the pacific' section of the tour as it got a little graphic.

(above: me inside a German lookout bunker)
Post-museum we started back toward the hotel to clean up for dinner. Halfway back Jillian was drawn into a "hand-made glass" shop/school so we went ornament shopping. As it was a school we took the tour of the kilns while student's worked on various projects. Luckily, there was no tax on the ornament Jillian eventually chose. They were a bit pricey.

Dinner was fantastic. Again, based on TripAdvisor reviews, we went to a place just off of Royal Street called Orleans Grapevine Wine Bar and Bistro. Unlike the previous meal, this one was off the charts good. We sat out on the back patio under umbrellas and strings of Christmas lights. I had rack of lamb and Jillian had a petite angus filet. Once we got back to the hotel, Jillian surprised me with some brownies and ice cream for dessert. A nice way to end the day.

Sunday pretty much revolved around the football game. We got up early to go find some breakfast. As you would expect, nearly every place in town was packed so we ended up eating begniets at a Cafe Du Monde inside the Riverside Mall. We had to check out of the hotel before the game so we parked in a deck near the stadium, which wasn't as much of a nightmare as I had anticipated. Getting inside the stadium was a bit of a headache though as Jillian couldn't bring in a "purse" larger than an index card. After traveling back to the car to change our entrance strategy we walked around the stadium for a while before finding the proper entrance followed by a mile of ramps to our seats. The view was nice after I asked the Saints fans in front of us to sit down. They were the only people in the stadium standing.
The game itself was a blowout. We learned that Saints fans are some of the lousiest fair-weather fans on the planet as half of them were gone by mid-second quarter and nearly all gone by the 4th quarter. There wasn't much excitement during the game other than the rare brawl that took place after a Cam Newton rushing touchdown. It resulted in an ejection... so that was fun.

Getting out of town after the game was painless. Two right turns out of the parking deck and onto the interstate. Overall, a great trip... thanks to my wonderful wife.

Random street performer video from our walk back from dinner Saturday night:

Christmas at Univ. of South Alabama

For, essentially, the first time in my career I got to experience a corporate Christmas party. A couple of weeks ago someone in the administration building started passing out a pot-luck list to each department and by the time it made it to the Purchasing department, a ham was pretty much the only thing left as an option; so that's what we selected. About that same time, Marcia (our secretary/purchasing assistant) and a woman down the hall "decorated" the women's bathroom on our floor. Apparently, it's an annual tradition. This was the result:

What didn't seem to be traditional was the amount of attention it drew. Pretty much every high position employee took the tour; including the president of the university. Thankfully, everyone got a kick out of it.
Yesterday (Friday) was the actual party. Well, less like a party and more like a brunch. Close enough. A few people wore tacky sweaters, so that makes it a party, right? The food was delicious and I was able to meet a few people from other departments that I might have otherwise never seen.

Our 2014 Trip to Auburn

I've probably mentioned before that Jillian has a goal of going to an Auburn football game every year. This year we decided to go to the last home game of the year; between Georgia and Alabama. The game was Nov 22nd against a Samford team coached by (once Auburn Heisman Trophy winner) Pat Sullivan.
We got on campus pretty early and were able to park in the parking deck at Toomer's Corner; a feat that is not often possible on a game day. It was an evening game so we spent a few hours shopping for new Auburn gear (attempting to find Philip Lutzenkirchen Jerseys) and then had lunch at the Mellow Mushroom. It was a slightly awkward lunch b/c the wait was roughly an hour unless we wanted to sit at the only table outside; so we took that option. It was awkward because that's were everyone waiting on a table was standing and also the only walking path for other fans just walking around. So basically, we just had people watching us eat the entire time.
Not much else to talk about before the game. We wandered around and talked about the buildings we used to have classes in; some of which were no longer there. We took a restroom break inside the old basketball arena and I took a picture because who knows how long it will be before they tear it down for something new. The lights were off in the arena so I just snapped one of the concourse.

Before watching "Tiger Walk", we came across some special alumni association tailgate that had some birds from the raptor center. We couldn't get in because, of course, we don't pay to be in the alumni association, but we had a great view from the barricade so I took a few more pictures and just as we were leaving, Aubie showed up on the back of a utility cart. Unfortunately, I had my phone's camera on some indoor light setting so it turned everything blue.

The game itself started out a little closer that we would have liked. Both teams were scoreless through the first quarter, and when Samford scored first in the second, we thought that we might be in for a long night. Thankfully, Auburn decided to wake up and followed up with 31 unanswered points.

Jillian just reminded me about the rain. The reason the stadium looks so empty in the background is because about midway through the 2nd quarter it started ... misting? Misting is probably the best word. It wasn't normal rain, and if it wasn't for the stadium lighting and wet clothes, you probably wouldn't have known there was precipitation. I think it's important noting the cold air and rain because Jillian and I are both pretty convinced that this played a big part in both of us getting sick the next week and her ensuing bronchitis.
That night we stayed in the Auburn/Opelika Hilton by the interstate to rack up a few Hilton HHonors points. Our dinner had been stadium Chic-Fil-a sandwiches and cookies but needed something warm in our bellies before bed so we grabbed some Wendy's Chili for a pre-sleep snack.
Seeing as most of her kids were going to be out of town for Thanksgiving, my mom wanted to have the McKelroy thanksgiving dinner a weekend early. This meant we had to hit the road early to make it there at noon, so it was an early morning. We did make it there on time, so all is well.

Vier Monaten Lernen Deutsch

I believe I've officially been learning German for four months now. I've been using an app on my cellphone and tablet called Duolingo. I've wanted to learn a second language for forever and it's exciting that I could likely get around a German town and manage to stay alive. To this point, I've yet to get into the details of foods beyond the generic; "lunch", "milk", "water" and "sandwich". I have, however managed to get down some 'travel' words, could hold basic conversations and can ask most questions. At least important ones like, "where is the bathroom?". I just thought I would share b/c this is likely the most committed I've ever been to a project.

Halloween

I completely forgot to mention Halloween. Here are some photos. We were all Auburn'd out this year. Unfortunately, we didn't have many trick-or-treaters so we had a lot of left over candy. Aww shucks. Leftover chocolate for us.

Christmas in November

Halloween fell on a Friday this year and the very next day Jillian and I went to Wal-Mart to get our groceries for the next week. This is the first thing we saw when we walked in...

Seriously? One day removed from Halloween? We haven't even celebrated Thanksgiving. What's worse is that a week later we saw a woman in that same Wal-Mart wearing reindeer antlers. It's NOVEMBER!!! Good lord. It's things like this that make me hate Christmas season.
On a more positive note, Jillian and I got out of the house a little this weekend. Friday night dinner at California Dreaming in Spanish Fort followed by Saturday morning yard sale hunting where I got a nice sleeping bag for our next camping trip (whenever that might be). Saturday afternoon Auburn lost to Texas A&M in one of the most pathetic team performances I've ever seen so I won't go into detail. Sunday morning we drove to Foley and picked up a $100 4-bike rack for Jillian's car that she had found on a Facebook buy-sell-trade group for baldwin county for $40. Since we were in Foley we decided to go ahead and hit up the outlet mall and bowling alley behind it.

The bowling matched turned into a pretty close one. Jillian got off to a pretty good start.
We did a little shopping before we came home and as we were pulling up to our house we noticed a neighbor was throwing away little kid's play house. As it was one that cost $200 new and was in great shape, just dirty, we went over and dragged it to our driveway so I could power wash it. A couple minutes of spraying and it was good as new. It will likely end up at my parent's house as (my niece) Allie's new toy. Nothing like finding a free $200 toy... except for maybe actual cash.

Rocktober 2014

So much to talk about and so little time:
Friday, Oct 10:
Jillian and I both left work a little early to make our way to Gulf Shores. Her mom, step-dad, brother and his wife were all at a rented condo at the beach for the Shrimp Festival. We hadn't seen her brother Jarred in a while so we wanted to visit. Despite the festival being an annual event 45 minutes away from the home I grew up in, I had never attended it before. It lived up to my imagination; Drunk jort-wearing Floridians congregating around funnel cake stands that had recently upgraded their menu to carry shrimp and gumbo. Jillian and I had skipped dinner and refused to destroy our stomachs with fried food. Thankfully, the festival surrounded The Hangout Restaurant (a place we frequent on summer beach days) so we ate there. After touring the rest of the festival grounds, her family joined us at the table and we stayed there for a few hours drinking and telling stories. It turned out to be a very pleasant experience.
Saturday, Oct 11:
Jillian's brother and his wife Kristen decided to keep the party going and joined us back home during the Auburn football game. Unfortunately, the game started poorly as Auburn had turnovers on it's first two offensive plays. Although they fought hard to stay in the game, they never recovered; falling to Mississippi State (who currently sits at #1 in the AP Poll). The game ended, our guests headed back to Gulf Shores and while I was in the front yard I struck up a football conversation with our neighbor. I know our conversation was that of disappointment in the game, but I forget the details apart from him inviting Jillian and I to join their family and friends for a viewing of the remaining games on TV. So we grabbed a couple new drinks and headed over. It was quickly recognized by Jillian and I that we were on a different level of ... non-sobriety... than everyone else. I think we played it pretty cool, but we didn't seem to make a decent connection with anyone there so we left after eating their leftover hamburgers. So, it wasn't a total loss.
Saturday, Oct 12:
Jillian and I celebrated our 1st year anniversary. We had made a few plans for the day but none of them really panned out, so we spent the day mostly lounging around on the couch until we opened our presents for each other. Year one is "paper" themed. I thought I did pretty good by "making" a puzzle from pictures of our first year together. I was, of course, out done by Jillian who surprised me with tickets to our first NFL football game; Saints v Panthers at the Super Dome in New Orleans. The evening was unusual but nice. We put together the puzzle, looked through pictures from our wedding and honeymoon and then decided to go out for dinner and a movie. Instead of a theater and restaurant, we grabbed a rental from RedBox and went overboard in a Taco Bell drive thru. I wasn't sure about the movie selection (Blended - an Adam Sandler Comedy), but because it was a romantic comedy in the setting of South Africa, like our honeymoon, it seemed very fitting. It was as cheesy as we thought but a good way to end the night.

 I nearly forgot. In addition to the presents we got each other, Jillian had also ordered snorkeling equipment for our upcoming Jamaica trip, that happened to arrive that day as well. It was a nice addition. The new gear was part of the reason I decided a few days later to buy the 3-in-1 GoPro camera mount used for "selfies". Hopefully we can get some good snorkeling videos while we're goofing around in the Caribbean.

 The next week was pretty busy at work. September marks the end of South Alabama's fiscal year, and I think I'm finally getting to the end of compiling financial statements. I received what I hope is the first and last of my Audit requests, but likely isn't. I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel. What I can say about this new job, to this point, is that there is a LOT less stress come year-end. I definitely haven't even considered overtime.
This past weekend was a little different than the one before. We went out to dinner Friday at Baumhower's Wings while we watched Daphne High School on a crummy local tv station as they ended the 30-something win streak of neighboring Spanish Fort High. Even thought the 7-0 game wasn't entertaining, the drunk woman at the end of the bar, yelling "HELL YEAH" every time Daphne did something positive, was.
Auburn had a bye weekend so Saturday was pretty much wide open. We decided an early morning trip to the Fairhope goodwill was a prime way to spend our morning before hitting up the liquor store and Walmart. I'll note here that there's a bit of an Ebola outbreak in Africa that has popped up in a couple places in the US, from Africa Volunteers returning home. As the virus is deadly and apparently more contagious than expected, we decided to stock up on some canned and dried goods just in case avoiding contact with the outside world for a month became mandatory for survival. Yes, I'm saying that we did doomsday shopping. I'm not proud of it,  but you can never be too careful with certain things. After the preppin', we went out for BBQ and spent the rest of the afternoon watching other highly ranked teams lose.
Sunday was much anticipated. Jillian had been invited to an Annual Grilled Cheese Cook-Off thrown by a woman named Deborah, who she volunteered with at multiple retirement homes via Paws'ative Therapy. Jillian had pointed out to me that this was apparently a pretty big deal as they were known to feature food made by local chefs... in the form of Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (or at least resembled them to an extent). The even did not disappoint. It even managed to surprise me with it's magnitude. They had a tent, cookie buffet, bloody-mary bar for the adults and bouncy castle for the kids. There was even live music: a couple Jillian and Adam Holt. It was the first Jillian & Adam couple we had ever run into so we had to take a picture.

We were in friend making mode so we made a lot of small talk with people we didn't know. Jillian ran into a woman named Chris that she used to see at dog training sessions several years ago when Stella Blue was a savage. We also happened to run into Parker and his wife Rebecca. Parker and I were in the same grade growing up and we even crossed paths during a summer job where we were both lifeguards. It was nice exchanging old stories. Around 2:30, all the "grilled cheese sandwiches" started rolling out. There were some very impressive food combinations. Someone was bold enough to make his with lobster. Jillian and I both liked one simply made with Ricotta cheese. Her favorite was a little on the sweet side. Overall, there were 10 different trays full of sandwiches cut in the 4ths. Everyone was given a ticket used to vote for their favorite. In the end, Lobster guy won the 1st place adult vote and was given a custom cheese cutting board. The winner of kids choice turned out to be the hostesses grandmother. Around 4:30 we said our goodbyes and I grabbed as many cookies as I could fit in a To-Go bag and we headed back to the house.

To end the day on a high note, we made dinner and watched the Denver Broncos blow out the SF 49ers as Peyton Manning broke the NFL all time passing touchdown record with TD's 509 and 510.