Beer, comics, Star Wars, etc...GEEK

New Years Eve.

2008-12-30T17:42:00.000-08:00

The one drawback to being a parent is New years Eve. When you're single, or don't have kids it doesn't matter that you have no plans for New Years. Just get out and find a bar or nightclub, or go to a late dinner. Or if you have more adult plans that are for 2 (or 3 if you're lucky) you can stay in and celebrate the New Year by yourselves.

This is not the case if you have kids, for me at least. We used to hang out with another couple with kids, but we're not as close as we used to be. and I don't want to get a sitter for the kids again. So I try to call friends and think of something to do, but it seems that many of them were far more on top of it than I was(am) and they've already got plans.

I guess I make a few more calls. If nothing else, we can stay up playing on the Wii and sleep through New Years. I'm NOT watching Dick Clark, or Ryan Seacrest and screw their "rocking eve".

The Bistro

2008-11-10T18:36:00.000-08:00

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=46185832

or here

The Up and Down

Morgan's Room, The Saga Continues...

2008-09-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

Morgan is in the closet, is that wrong?

Morgan's room is finished (finally) and I really like how it came out. Some of our plans changed as we were working on it, and Shannon had some advice when she got home.

It was Shannon's idea to paint the trim red. I wanted to do one of the walls red, but I think this came out better.

These red skulls were Shannon's idea too. Some of the skulls on the wall are glow in the dark (that was a compromise between us) I think they look cool.

Taylor took this picture of me touching up the stencils.

This was last weekend, after Morgan got home from Great America. He was tired and not much help, but I'm not complaining. he helped a lot today.

Even the dogs are worn out. I think I'll take some time off before the next project. Wait, we don't have anything else planned do we?

The Saga of Morgans Room...

2008-09-08T16:34:00.001-07:00

This project was supposed to be a surprise but, lots of craptastic things happened and well it didn't exactly go as planned.I started of sanding the lower half of Morgans room, so I could re-stain it. Morgan and I thought we could do a very cool fade, dark at the top light at the bottom. What a pain in the ass. Screw it! I just sanded it down and put a clear coat on,it gave it kind of a col rustic look.

Then we got some 1/4" Sheetrock and put it on top and finished it off with trim at the bottom (like chair rail).

I made this stencil

Painted the upper half a light grey, and the stencil a slightly darker shade (you can barely see it).

Morgan and I put all the stuff back even though it's not quite finished. it needs crown molding and I want Shannon's input on a couple of things.

These last 2 photos my friend Phil took when he was in Ireland. He saw this shop and thought of Shannon.I thought the other knitters and spinners would appreciate them too.

Shannon comes home tomorrow night, crap I think I need to clean a mirror.

New Stuff

2008-08-22T21:15:00.000-07:00

This is Taylor's new bed. I put it together the other night.

She really likes it, she's waiting for her mom to come home and sew some curtains for it.

These are my new boots, they are 'New rock Boots' made in Spain.

I got these on EBAY for $100, that is a steal. https://www.newrockstore.com/zona1/catalog/ Check out the link and see how much I saved. Man that mirror is dirty.

The Current Project

2008-08-11T18:24:00.000-07:00

These walls were green when we moved in, some people really like it. Shannon and I think it looks like baby poop.

So I patched up all the holes, moved everything around. and slept in Morgans room for a week

I painted one wall a dark teal.

The rest were a light teal. Daisey and Izzy had to be moved around.
And a Celtic border in a shade between the two.
Here is a close-up of the border.

Keeping Busy

2008-08-09T17:04:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to keep busy while Shannon is away, and no I'm not constantly on EBAY. I painted the downstairs bathroom, but I forgot to take a before picture. So these are just the finished pics.

See, very nice. But I think we need new towels now. Funny how you do a project and then all your stuff looks like crap.

Like the stripes?

I think it just gives you a little more to look at when you're....thinking.

Taylor and Daisey resting, don't they look exhausted.

And I needed another coffee mug like I needed a hole in the head, but I couldn't help it. I'll post my other project next time.

Wine, Kilts, and Cougars

2008-07-30T22:02:00.001-07:00

Last weekend my friends (Peter, Chris, Steve, and Dave) and I went to a fundraiser for Pancreatic Cancer research. It was held at Rombauer Vineyards in St Helena. During the planning for this 'Man trip' someone (not me) suggested we wear kilts.

Now only Chris and I own Utilikilts, well Steve owns my first kilt because it never quite fit me right and it fit him perfectly. So Dave and Peter borrow some kilts and we plan on meeting at Peter's house on Saturday morning.

When I show up at Peter's, Dave is already there and he's starting to rethink this idea. He's worried that we look a little 'Brokeback', not because of the kilts but because it looks like we tried to coordinate our outfits.

Steve and Chris show up, we take some pictures (none posted) and we make like a baby and head out. We drive up to the valet parking and the Valet gives us a funny smile, but the women start waving and calling us over to them. They ask if we're a soccer team? "No, just hooligans" I reply. They send us on to the caves where the wine is stored. We taste wine answer question about the kilts, I haven't had this much attention since High School.

We finish the 'cave tour' and head up to where the food is and we get ambushed buy one of the owners. She wants pictures for the newsletter. Other women are coming to get a closer look, they ask the question. "what's under the kilt?" our reply..."Boots and socks." It's always fun to be the unintentional entertainment, and it was all for a good cause.

Cat Attack

2008-07-29T18:31:00.001-07:00

Now if you look real close at these blurry pics, you can see the vicious mouse that is attacking Spike.

It was hard to get good photos, as the fight was fast paced and it was really dark outside. I'm sure this was a struggle of epic proportions.

In the end Spike won the battle. He ate the small beast, and threw it up the next day. Good boy, mighty hunter.

Parties and crap...

2008-06-24T22:12:00.000-07:00

So one day last month I get this call from Chris. He and I work together (sort of) so we call each other throughout the day to complain about (aboot for you Canadians) traffic, our boss, customers, our boss...you get the idea. "Guess what just arrived?" he says "Our (special edition) Utilikilts for entering the mock-u-mercial contest." He's as giddy as a school girl. "But they didn't send just kilts, you won't believe what the sent."

So I'm sitting in my car, outside an account, and he goes over everything they sent. The kilt, a special edition hoodie, and a check for $150.00 in-store credit. "Holy crap" I said, "how come?" Well, it turns out the kilts didn't turn out the way they had planned. The silk screen doesn't adhere to denim very well so it just flakes off. The black denim bleeds into the white denim (on the pockets) and the thing ways about 5 pounds, maybe more (should I break that down into metric for our friends and family up north?).

Oh yeah, here is Taylor's golden snitch cake before I forget. The wings took Morgan and I about an hour to do and it's filled with chocolate fudge swirl ice cream. I also made cupcakes (because we knew that this would not be nearly enough cake) with an H, S, G,and R on them. The initials of the 4 houses. She had quite the haul this year.

So anyway back to the free stuff. Screen print, schmeen print... who cares it looks better when its all scratched up and faded anyway. And if I just keep picking at it, it will all be gone soon anyway. The hoodie is hella cool (that's right, I said hella, I'm from Northern California. Screw you) the stitching is all on the outside, so its super soft, and the hood is extra huge to fit my fat head. The in-store credit went to a new black workman kilt, now I have one for every day of the week. I just need a new job so I can wear it to work.

Welcome to my garden

2008-04-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

This post is like an episode of 'Cribs'. Just pretend I'm famous or something, and you care about what kind of crap I have in my house/yard.

Step inside, Morgan and I made this path. Taylor and I planted 2 rows of carrots on the left and a row of radishes on the right.

On the left, I've planted some crookneck squash, dill, cucumber, cilantro, basil,and 4 tomatoes.

At the end of the path, I planted 2 red bell peppers, and an Anaheim pepper.

On the right, I planted pumpkins, zucchini, summer squash, yellow zucchini, and another crookneck, because Shannon likes them.

I just like this picture 'cause it looks like a face...or boobs depending on how much beer you've had.

Taylor planted peas at the fence posts, and flowers along the fence line. That's pretty much the whole thing except for the hops, which are coming along nicely now after the initial shock of being moved. I'll take some pictures of those when they are a bit taller.

This years garden

2008-04-04T20:22:00.001-07:00

This year I'm trying to get an early start on the garden. Most of the time I'm trying to plant it at the last minute. This year my friend Phil and I pulled out 3 stumps. Well 1 stump and 2 bushes, but we pulled them out the roots. Hopefully they won't come back.

Usually I just plant my garden in this small strip, but this year I want to move the hops over here.

This year I used Phil's rototiller and did this larger section. I amended the soil with horse manure from Elayne (she's got lots of it).

Just look at that dirt, now I need to figure out what to plant.

The Annies Show

2008-02-09T20:08:00.001-08:00

So I had practice today, and the guys told me that there were some videos posted on our MySpace page. I thought I would share them with you.

Look close and you can see my kilt. I'm so cool.

The Up and Down Live at Annie's 1-26-08

Add to My Profile More Videos The Up and Down Live at Annie's 1-26-08

Add to My Profile More Videos

And Another Thing

2008-01-29T20:01:00.000-08:00

This is the morning after the show. I asked Shannon to take some pictures so I could send them to Utilikilts for a contest (hopefully another free kilt, no I don't know what the other free kilt looks like yet).

Yes, these are my new cool Vans. I saw them when I was buying some shoes for Morgan, and had to come back for them.

I can't do my 'Brain Age' with you staring and taking pictures of me. Ya done?

look at that great smile, it looks sort of like her brothers.

which looks sort of like mine, but not as good.

AND ANOTHER THING!!!!!

This is my old school (Clifton), it has since become the "independent learning high school" (Redwood). They are tearing it down to build a new facility, because even the F--- ups need a clean state of the art place to learn.

This is the last remaining wing, I got in so much trouble here.

Enough rambling, this blog makes no sense.

Morgan's B-day

2008-01-20T14:37:00.000-08:00

This year we had a party for Morgan during the day, and he had a sleep over that night. The party was good, and the sleep over was pretty good. Morgan had 2 friends spend the night, Kane (who was great), and Justin (who can be a total snotty little jerk). Justin brought his PS2 over, so the kids could play Guitar Hero. I was out picking up some Zachery's when they were trying to hook up the PS2, when I got home they were having some trouble. It turns out that when I hung the TV on the wall, and I ran a connector around (the connectors for our TV are all in the back) to the front, I hooked up the S-connector as well and it cancels out the RCA connector.

We could hear the sound but no picture. I realized this and said "I know why it won't work"

Justin: "because your TV doesn't work?" (in a snotty tone)

I stopped and looked at him (I was kind of taken aback) and said "F--- you." That little jerk pretty much pissed me of the rest of the night.

What a little asshole.

Like I said earlier, Kane was great. Well behaved, sometimes loud but I can deal with that. He has really become a great kid the last couple of years.

Pooptacular!

2007-12-20T19:39:00.000-08:00

Here is Shannon on the computer (probably fixing my financial screw-ups). She's been having a tough time at work lately, and I know my overspending for Christmas doesn't help with her sanity. I just wanted to say I'm sorry, but you're worth it.

Everything else is just pooptacular. Our new washer/dryer are great, so far everything is washing great and nothing has been ripped, torn, shredded, or otherwise destroyed. Knock on wood.

Time for another kilt (oh yeah, I'm getting a free one).

My Workman Kilt has Returned!!

2007-12-10T21:15:00.000-08:00

So I got my kilt back last week and I'm very happy to have it. I gotta tell you, I don't wear my tan original much anymore (it's a little big) so it seemed like I only had one kilt. They just stitched it up (which Shannon could have done) but it only cost $5 for shipping and they fixed it for free. Thanks to Joe at Utilikilts for all of his help.

Utilikilts also announced the winners of their Mock-u-mercial contest, and...............I didn't win. Oh well, I get a free special edition kilt just for entering. For some reason my Mock-u-mercial doesn't play all the way through on the UK website. So if you want to it in its entirety you can check it out on www.youtube.com it's called UK team.

The Happiest Man In Disneyland

2007-11-29T19:27:00.000-08:00

This is me and Taylor in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle (yes I wore a kilt). We had a great time, and learned a few things too. Such as; Sleeping Beauty's Castle was not wheelchair accessible and there was no way to put in an elevator, so they had to close it. The Monorail is a very complicated system, and it's not easy to pull off a train to work on, so in the off season (now) they only run one train. Also, those damn pins cost too much. When you buy 1 or 2 it's no big deal, but when you walk around the park and see more and more. That crap adds up, and you don't notice until later and you have no money for food.

This is California Adventure in the day (well, dusk).

This is California Adventure at night (well almost night, Ca Adventure closes at 6pm in the off season).

Yes, we do the character breakfast for my benefit not the kids. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a breakfast buffet. I like to see the kids (not just my own kids) reaction to the characters walking around and coming up to them at breakfast like it was normal. So cut me some slack, this is where Disney magic really happens. Oh yeah, some rides are hard to get on when you're wearing a kilt. 'Nuff said!!

Shannon's home

2007-11-14T19:18:00.000-08:00

yeah!!!

Tragedy...(sort of)

2007-11-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

Okay, so in the grand scope of things (death, illness, death, and death again) it's not really a tragedy. Needless to say I am really (RREEAALLYY) mad. Really I am, I scared the kids, I totally didn't mean too. I'm sorry for that. It starts with this washing machine, never buy this "Kenmore Elite" no matter what the fuck Consumer Reports says about it. (BTW they rated it #1 for 2 or 3 years, bullshit!) I loaded it this morning and set the timer, so it would be done before I got home. When I opened the door I knew something was wrong.

I saw my brown Workman kilt in the front but it didn't look right. I pulled it out and saw a huge tear. Right across one of the pleats. This is not the first time this washer has torn our clothes. We had 2 of Shannon's shirts torn and 1 of the sheets for our bed.

Taylor was on the phone with Shannon when I found the kilt (and yelled), she got a little scared (when I yell it can be scary, Daisey hides, kids cry, it's really not cool). So I gave her a hug and told her that I was sorry for scaring her. I really hate this washer. The dryer sucks too, it keeps turning off when the clothes are still wet. WTF! P,S,T,F,CS,MF,andB!

The only possible bright side (besides taking a sledgehammer to this piece of shit washer) is that Utilikilts has a repair program, so I'll have to call them tomorrow sometime to see what can be done. I'm not sure if Shannon's considerable talent can fix this. What do you think?

Halloween '07

2007-11-01T19:19:00.001-07:00

This is Morgan and Taylor handing out candy to our first trick or treaters of the night. After this was taken, Taylor and I headed out and Morgan stayed home w/Corinne. Taylor had to pee about halfway through so we came home. Morgan went out with us the rest of the night.

Morgan wore the same costume as last year, but I don't think it will fit him for long. I wore them out, I asked them if they wanted to keep going but they said they were tired.

Taylor was Catwoman. She looked great, and for the first time I can remember she was warm. Shannon made her boots and hood part of the mask. Look at her belt, its a whip (nice touch).

These were our pumpkins, Morgans on the left, mine in the middle and Taylor's on the right. We carved these on Saturday night. we normally carve pumpkins at our friend Ryan's house, but this year he couldn't do it. So everyone came over here, and we carved them downstairs. The tile was easy to clean and everyone had a good time. I wish Shannon was here to enjoy Halloween with us, but we'll just have to have a bigger Halloween next year.

What a load of crap!!!

2007-10-28T20:30:00.000-07:00

Shannon's out of town, so I took the kids out to D&E's for the corn maze. When we got there we found this. Apparently, they bought a manure spreader. WOW!!!! is all I can say. A whole machine dedicated to spreading shit.

So Taylor, Morgan, and I jumped in the back of the truck. Darryl hooked-up the poo thrower, and we drove out to the field. Darryl hops out of the truck and flips the handle. He climbs back into the truck and off we go.

Look at that poo flying through the air. It has these tines on the back, so you could say that the shit really hits the fan. I swear monkeys at the zoo are jealous. It's quite the sight, I have to say. It will save them a lot of time cleaning up after the horses. Lets face it there is nothing like flying crap. It's craptastic.

Oh yeah, we went to the corn maze too. There was no poo flying there, but it was still a lot of fun.

Falling Down Drunk (almost)

2007-10-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

So last night was the crawl, and I got DRUNK. Not tipsy or a little drunk but wasted. Apparently the other reason I like to have Shannon there is to act as my anchor. I don't think I drank as much as last year, but I don't think I had a big enough dinner before the crawl. Luckily Angie was there to give me a ride home. I got home and got sick, a first for me on the crawl.

The night started off well, as Shannon was dropping me off 'Living on a prayer' was on the radio. I thought it was a good omen. Ryan had the idea to tell people to come in costume. The idea behind this was in hopes of getting women dressed as 'slutty nurse', 'slutty cop', 'slutty slut', in short, Ryan is a pig. But that was fine with me because Angie and I had a good time discussing if they would make it to the end. (Some of these girls had very high heels, not sensable for walking)

The only drawback to the costume crawl, was that people thought my kilt was a costume! I politely told them no and they didn't believe me. If Steve or Ryan were around I would ask them "whens the last time you saw me in pants?" That seemed to convince them. Chris wore his kilt too, I gave out some Utilikilts business cards (I really need to open a store, I can so sell these things) and I ran into a friend from High School.

Well I never fell down, but I sure couldn't walk straight. Thank you Angie for getting me home safely, and thank you Shannon for not being mad at me for coming home drunk. Lastly, thanks to the man who invented the toilet and for making its porcelain surface so cool and soothing.

p.s. I went with the Survival Kilt.
p.p.s. One of the other reasons I like Shannon to go is for her beautiful photo documentation. IE: no pictures without her.

Here comes the crawl

2007-09-30T13:01:00.000-07:00

These photos were taken a couple of weeks ago at Steve's house. We had another crab boil for his birthday. No crayfish this time, as they to much work and not enough meat. We had a ton of crab, shrimp, clams, and 1 lobster. delicious.

This is Peter, Steve's brother-in-law, I had him try on one of my kilts and he wore it all night. He said "I thought it would be comfortable, but it's more comfortable than I thought it would be". Steve's brother Philip tried it on later, and his girlfriend looked at him with pure lust in her eyes. I've actually never seen anything like it. Peter's wife Jen said he would be getting one for his birthday or Christmas. I'm not exaggerating about the lust thing, she almost needed a drool cup.

Well, the crawl is next week, and I am looking forward to it. I will drink to Becky's memory, and finish someone elses drink in her honor. Shannon might not be able to come because of work. But she said she might try to trade days or shifts with someone. I hope she can because I like to have her around. Sometimes she says she feels like an outsider because she doesn't get to hang out with the group (because of work), and I understand this (I used to work crappy shifts too). But when she's not there, I think of her constantly (maybe not constantly , I sound like a total PW sap, but a lot). Hope to see you at the crawl next year Kelly.

I GOT A NEW KILT!!!

2007-09-02T22:00:00.001-07:00

This is my new 'Workman Utilikilt'. Pretty cool? Yes, thank you. Shut up, it's been years since my legs saw this much sun. It's gonna take some time to get them tan. My new kilt is an early Christmas present (I know it's reeeaaalllyyy early) and it has some nice features.

The hammer loop is adjustable. So it can hold my 2nd favorite tool (shown), or a Dewalt drill. It's made of 100% cotton duckcloth, so it's nearly indestructible (Superkiltman). I plan on wearing it to work in the yard tommorrow, hopefully it won't be as hot as today but at least I'll have A.C.

Two fat back pockets. Which kilt should I wear on the crawl?

The end.

Seattle

2007-08-03T09:41:00.000-07:00

So ever since we got back from vacation I've been looking at real estate prices in Seattle. I know we can't move, I think Shannon's mom might kill us. (I live in fear for my life, really) I was just interested how much a house would cost. Well then my friend Steve told me it rains like 300 days a year (oh yes, I forgot). The only reason is to be closer to the utilikilts store (I'm so selfish).

Maybe I should open a store in town? Utilikilts has a wholesale program. I could sell boots and kilts and belts and kilts and shirts and kilts and stuff and kilts...Another pipe dream. Oh well next week I'm back at work, in pants.

My Visit To "Mecca" (or, holy crap another post!?!)

2007-07-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

Shannon's going to tell you about our trip to Canada. Our visit with Kelly, Paul and the kids, but my destination was right here. Everything before and after are just blurs.

Here are Taylor and I modeling my new kilt (the Survival kilt). Everyone in the store was wearing a Utilikilt of some kind, and when I walked into the store, the owners wife said "welcome to Mecca". Otto helped me pick it out and try it on. They have no dressing rooms. So you unsnap your kilt, they wrap the new kilt around you, and the old one falls to the floor. Very clever.

I made Paul try on the old one. I don't think he has the stones to wear it out in public. You should notice that in the picture above I have removed the cargo pockets. I wore this kilt golfing the next day. First time I've ever golfed, I think I need some clubs.

This was just a fun shot of Seabass, he made such a fuss. He had a small splinter and it took 3 people to hold him down and get it out.

This is Me and Morgan pointing to where Shannon's ball had gone, it was a pretty good hit as I recall.

Well that's it until the next kilt. Rock on.

Bloc Party - Two More Years

2007-02-14T22:08:00.000-08:00


Originally downloaded from blocparty.net.

Wanted...Another Utilikilt

2006-10-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

Look I know they're expensive, but I wear mine all the time. This is before the crawl, getting Taylor to bed. I was just feeling silly. Shannon always complains about taking pictures of me because I can't do it without making a funny face.
This is Shannon on the crawl, doesn't she look lovely. Yes, she does. I'm not trying to kiss up for a new kilt, but I would really like one. Shannon said maybe for my birthday, I feel just like a little kid.

Livin' on a prayer...(the crawl)

2006-10-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

Once again, the C.V. crawl snakes it's way way down the boulevard. Once again, bartenders are overworked. Looking around like deer in headlights, fists full of cash. Once again, Ryan didn't quite make it to the end. Here is Steve at Dino's. We started the evening off at Ryan's house. We got there a bit late so the pizza was lukewarm. We talked, tried to figure out who was driving where, and who was leaving a car by the Valley Inn. I was a little tired, so I drank a bottle of 'BAWLS' energy drink.
people were a little slow to show up at our first stop (Dino's), but at one point there is a line trying to get in the bar. We head over to Krayons, and I order a Guiness (go figure). They have to change kegs so I have to wait (it seems like forever), but then settle into our usual booth ( the same one every year). Steve hands me his phone and I talk to our friend Jeremy (he lives in Florida, poor bastard) he told me to have a drink for him (I can't remember if I did). The picture of the crowd is at The Brass Boar, also known as the bowling alley. Lots of people skip this bar and head straight to Don Jose's. The first year people didn't want to stop at Don's, but now it's a favorite stop (free chips and salsa).
Then we have a long walk to Spanky's, every year I say we should open a bar somewhere in between, but that's just the beer talking. Spanky's is packed, and people just keep coming. Ryan takes the ceremonial picture with the stripper pole. We try to get Becky or Angie to dance on the pole, but they said not without a disinfectant wipe.
Next we walked over to Doucets, and tried to get the bartenders to notice us. This is where the crawl starts to fall apart. Angie and Becky get tired of waiting for the bartenders and just go and sit down. Dave and Stacey pick $5.00 worth of music on the juke box. I see Steve standing by the door (his brother Phil is on the crawl in a wheelchair this year, he just had surgery), and I think Steve left after this bar because I didn't see him at the last 2 bars.
Here is where I tell you why this blog is titled 'Livin' on a prayer'...Dave and Stacey picked some good music (Duran Duran, Fleetwood Mac, Hansen), but when Bon Jovi came on the place went nuts. These girls started dancing on chairs, everyone was singing at the top of there lungs, and I was never a big Bon Jovi fan but with everyone screaming...Well it's just infectious.
this is Dave enjoying some of the music he's picked out. I thought about titling this blog 'Young love on the crawl', because at about this bar we start noticing all these couples kissing. I tried to get some pictures, but none of them came out.

Here's a crowd shot in doucet's. This is before all the singing, I don't think everyone is here yet. After we left Doucet's we stopped at Starbucks for a shot of espresso, and then onto The Waiting Room. We found Ryan outside, not feeling so good. It seems that he never really makes it past this bar. Either he 's to drunk or his date (whoever it is this week) passes out, curled up in the fetal position on the oil stained parking lot. We then head to The Valley Inn, or as the cool kids call it The V.I. mostly we show up here just to say we made it, but I was gonna get a beer. Shannon said that Dave and Stacey were leaving, and that we should give them a ride. So we take off,and after dropping them off head back to the V.I. to find Angie and Becky. Shannon's hungry (when she's hungry you have to feed her or she might hurt you) and we had discussed food earlier with Angie and Becky. Shannon drops me off to find them and waits in the car. I go in (once again Bon Jovi comes on the juke box and the same thing happens) and find them waiting in the corner. One of their friends was buying them some beer and I had to help them finish it, in fact I don't think Becky finished a drink all night. She just kept handing them to me when it was time to go to the next bar.

We finished our evening at La Pinata, nothing goes with to much alcohol like some delicious refried beans with rice and cheese. The grease just soaks up the alcohol. I can't wait until next year.

Nice melons...

2006-09-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so they're technically pumpkins. I grew them myself, for pies. I can hardly wait, this is my favorite time of year. Food, food, presents, food, trick or treating, food. I made a birthday cake for Stacey, she's a huge Jack Skellington fan.
It's a red velvet cake with chocolate chip ice cream, delicious.
Daisy and Izzy just can't leave Shannon alone. They get jealous of each other.

What we've been up too...

2006-09-05T20:59:00.000-07:00

We've been going to the local farmers market every Saturday morning. We just get coffee, strawberries, scones, whatever and relax with our friends.Steve is kicking my butt at chess (Taylor calls it chest). Morgan and Kane are walking around looking "cool".
They really do have delicious scones here.

Shannon and I have been trying to walk...
We've also been trying to walk to Peet's Coffee once a week. It's just over 2 miles there and back, but any good we're doing for ourselves is canceled out by the Mocha Freddo's we get for the walk back.
These 2 pictures are of our high school track and football field. They were ripped out at the end of summer because they were old and in bad shape. They will be replaced with a "state of the art" sports facility....someday.
The end.

Crabs and boils.

2006-08-27T17:35:00.000-07:00

This post has lots of pictures of crabs and one big boil. Steve's b-day is on Monday and we weren't sure what to do. He's been saying for a while that he wanted to do a big crab boil, so we said let's do it for your birthday.
We each bought some live seafood (3 dungeness crabs, 4 rock crabs, 1 lobster, 4 pounds of crayfish, 2 pounds of shrimp, and not enough clams) and threw it in my big kettle.
When all was done we drained the water, and dumped the whole thing on the table. There were potatoes cooking with the crabs and corn on the side. Then we sat our asses down and dug in. Very messy but really good.
(Note that Peter is playing with his crab.) I had to rip the heads off of Shannons and Taylors food, we all ate to our fill.
Here is the carnage of our meal. Just a few shrimp and a bunch of crayfish (it's hard to get much meat out of those little F-ers).
I'll post some other fun pictures of live food later.

It's official...

2006-08-20T15:26:00.000-07:00

Shannon's Mom and Stepdad brought the kids home today, and they brought some horse manure for my compost. One might say I'm now full of shit. Others would say I always have been.

that's all.

The Guinness Spoon

2006-07-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

This is my new pouring spoon (another gadget). I've seen them in bars for years and didn't know where to get one. Recently, I was online at www.guinness.com
and found out that I could purchase one there. Now, for those that have never seen such a gadget, this is how it works.

You start with a Guinness and another "beer" (actually you can use cider or champagne as well but I'll get to that later).

Pour the "lighter" beer between 2 glasses, and place the spoon (note the bend in said spoon) on the edge of a glass.

Pour the Guinness over the back of the spoon, so the Guinness "fans" out over the other beer and causes the Guinness to stay separate.

That is called a Black and Tan. These aren't the best I've made but I just got this spoon and it's a little different.

Guinness and Harp = Half and Half

Guinness and champagne = Black Velvet

Guinness and cider = Snakebite

This last part is for Apl, the Margarita's ingredients are Tequila, Corona, limeade concentrate, and Triple Sec (and ice) use a Coronita (small Corona) and equal parts limeade and Tequila and just a shot of Triple Sec.

Ebelskiver

2006-07-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

These are Ebelskivers...

This is an Ebelskiver pan...

Now I remember this pan hanging around my parents kitchen, but I don't think my parents ever used it. So I told my mom I was taking it. Cleaned it up, and reseasoned it (it's cast iron), And I tried it out on the 4th of July (breakfast).

So I had to go online for a recipe, and directions.

It's kind of a messy process.

They tasted real good with Powdered Sugar and Jelly.

I think these are Danish, so they made a perfect 4th of July treat. Remember, we are a nation of immigrants (cue the Led Zep music).

That's all until the next dink-out.

Coffee...

2006-07-03T12:14:00.000-07:00

I love coffee. Shannon likes to complain about my obsession with kitchen gadgets, and here is the coffee example. First, I'm the only coffee drinker in the house. So on a regular day I'll use the Automatic Drip. We bought this coffee maker because I can brew directly into 1 or 2 travel mugs, or if we have company I can make a carafe.
Sometimes I'll use the French Press which makes the best tasting coffee. Lots of people don't like press coffee because it's a little grainy, But the taste is excellent. I just bought the Stovetop Espresso maker yesterday. I've wanted one for a long time and I have to say it works very well. A nice inexpensive gadget.
This Cappucino maker doesn't see nearly enough use. I really like it , and at one time I could make the best Mocha (incidentally if you're in or around Oakland, the best Mocha is at Gaylord's on Piedmont...They make it with melted chocolate ice cream). There is just to much clean up time after I make a couple Cappucino's.
Now I think I used this twice, and I think it used to be Shannons Grandmothers. Percolators don't make the best coffee, but I just think it's kind of cool.
On the weekends I brew coffee directly into the Batman (I put the Mickey mug there for a size reference) mug. I like it with a shot of Bailey's, it's a nice way to start a Saturday.
There's a couple of other coffee makers I'd like, but they are like $600 and $800 so I don't think I'll be getting them any time soon.

What I was trying to say...

2006-06-25T14:46:00.000-07:00

What I was trying to print last night, was that part of the reason I haven't been blogging was because we were having problems with our computer. It was very witty and it answered the inevitable question "why hasn't Shannon had any trouble?". Well she did have trouble but I don't want to go into it now. So screw it here are some pictures of cakes I did, enjoy

WOW

2006-06-24T21:36:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, where the hell have I been. Well we've been having a few issues with our craptastic computer and hopefully it's working okay now. But wait, you say. Shannon's been updating her blog. What the hell are you talking about Will? You're just a fat lazy slob, we know that. Well screw you, I'm not fat (just a little overweight and out of shape, I won't disagree about the lazy part) Shannon's been able to update her blog from work.

Eyeball cakes, and more

2006-01-02T12:05:00.000-08:00

Last year (sometime in April I think) Morgan came to me and said, "I know what kind of cake I want for my birthday". I think I said "you're kind of early, but what kind do you want?" his response was "I don't care what kind of cake it is, but I want it to look like an eyeball, and have stuff come out when you cut into it." I said okay, but then I had to figure out how to do it.

I started with a Red Velvet cake, I have a cake pan that is round and has a large space in the middle for mousse or ice cream. I put a thin layer of buttercream inside so the filling (cherry with gummy worms) wouldn't ooze out. I frosted it with a cream cheese icing and made it look like this....

I see you.

My eyes are burning, does anyone have any Visine?

My friend Steve told me that there's no blood inside an eyeball, but when he saw the cherries he liked it because he said it looked like more eyeballs inside.

After Midnight we let Morgan open presents. That pink one on the table is actually a gift card wrapped in layers of wrapping paper, duct tape, and paper bags. It took forever for him to open it.

When the boys finally fell asleep, I stamped their foreheads with a date stamp, you should have heard them the next morning blaming each other.

Pictures

2005-12-18T13:32:00.000-08:00

Here are some random photos of Christmas decorations. They didn't come out real great (some were very blurry) and you can't see all the Star Wars, Star Trek, and superhero ornaments but I thought I'd post them just the same.

This is the famous Matt poster. It's his High School photo surrounded by lots of candid shots (some with his brother "Muck", some with Steve, Shannon is in one.

Once upon a time...

2005-12-11T10:54:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time there was a guy who started a web-log with good intentions of updating, and posting on a pretty regular basis. Never minding the fact that he couldn't update a regular journal once ever in his life. That is why I don't post on a regular basis, I'm just not programmed too.

Last night we hosted a Christmas party for our friends, It was a blast. Some of our guests had never been here before and were very impressed with the house. We finished decorating earlier that afternoon (downstairs) and hung a bunch of Star Wars and Star Trek ornaments (geeks). The bar looked very cool.

The picture is of my good friend Matt, I had to take it so we could add to our white elephant gift for next year. I'll try to take some photos of our loot and post it, but you already know how fast those will show up. Matt is a really good musician, he plays in a punk band called the Fleshies. You can get their CD's on Amazon, he's famous hence the home-made poster.

Painting again

2005-11-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I've been busy. If you've seen Shannon's blog you will know that we
painted the dining room a few weeks ago. This weekend we painted the kitchen. Why all the painting? Well there was nothing wrong with the old color but it was just a little on the pink side. Something that neither of us noticed until we were moving in (it's very subtle). We are also planning on having Thanksgiving dinner here so we wanted it to look nice.

On Friday we all had the day off, so we started by painting the ceiling and trim. Daisy was helping. Later Friday evening we got rid of the kids and went to a play with a friend. I'd been wanting to see this play (10 little Indians) for a while because I think it was the first play I saw (I was like 8 or 9). Unfortunately this production was not (I'm searching for the correct term...Oh yes) good. They weren't bad, well really bad, but they just had no sense of timing. They turned what I consider to be a suspenseful murder mystery into a farce. Still it was nice to get out.
Saturday we woke up, made waffles and painted the walls in the kitchen. Not much wall space so this went pretty quickly. We didn't tape the ceiling or trim, so that took a little longer freehand. I think it looks good, but our house is starting to look like we really like yellow.

Later that night we went to Shannons Mom's house for dinner and dessert.
Well that was our weekend, how was yours?...What's that?...What picture of Morgan?...I don't know what you are talking about?

Crawl pics

2005-10-16T16:59:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to load pictures from the bar crawl all week, but for some reason they won't load. Check the website www.castrovalleycrawl.com there are some good pictures of us (even one with apl).

last night we went rollerskating with Taylors school. We had lots of fun, and Taylor did a pretty good job (mostly you just hold her hand and skate, she glides). Morgan does pretty good, but when he skates it looks more like controlled falling. Last weekend I installed a new garbage disposal and I think I hurt my back (being all scrunched under the sink) I don't think the skating helped at all, because last night I was sore. Maybe it's just from the beer gut.

Crawling...

2005-10-02T16:34:00.000-07:00

Well we don't have any pictures yet, because we didn't take the camera. I'm sure someone will eventually Email us some pics so we can post some. Shannon and I had a great time. It's funny because some people we only see once a year on the crawl, but everyone recognizes each other.

My friend Ryan, brought some friends with him. One happens to be a woman he's dating. She fell off the stage dancing on the stripper pole at Spanky"s (fourth bar from the end) and got sick at Duecets (third from the end). She's not hurt (aside from her pride) but has earned the nickname 'Crash'. The funny thing is this, every year Ryan, or someone he's with (ex-wife, girlfriend, etc.) gets sick, passes out, or generally makes a fool of themselves. Way to keep a tradition.

Most of the bars were happy to see us, only a couple seemed upset that 100 paying customers showed up to keep them busy. Toward the end people are over tipping all over the place, those bartenders should be raking in the money. Would you turn all of those potential tips away?

I need Shannon

2005-09-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

Well Shannon comes home in a few days, and then things can get back to normal around here. I miss her and so do the kids (I think Daisy misses her too). I know she's doing well in class, better than I'm doing as a single dad (I suck at this). We've been talking every night, on the phone and online but her webcam seems to freeze up all the time. Tonight I wasn't feeling well so the kids let me rest, and my parents picked up some chicken legs for the kids. I've been trying to call Shannon and keep getting a recording...damn. She finally called me and didn't know there was anything wrong with her phone.

Last night my father called me and told me that my Uncle Joe had passed away. He was suffering from Alzheimers, in poor health, and pretty old too. I know it was expected, but I'm still really sad. When I was a kid we went to my Aunt and Uncles several times a week (they lived really close). I remember my dad and uncle sitting at the kitchen table talking. I remember that he always had a garden in the backyard. My sister always asks where I learned how to be handy around the house (tiling, painting, replacing sheetrock, basic household stuff) because our dad never did any of this stuff. My dad always called his brother-in-law Joe, and I think I just wanted to be able to do some of the things he did. He wasn't a master technician, or craftsman, he was just handy. He was always smiling, always funny.
At my wedding reception I offered to get him a beer, and he told he didn't drink. I didn't know this, I always assumed he had a beer or some wine with my dad. He told me that when he was young he was out with a friend and 3 women, they were all drinking. Later that evening his friend left with one of the women,leaving him with 2 (do you see where this is going). He told me that just as things were getting interesting he passed out, end of story. He said he never touched alcohol since.
I just keep remembering things about my Uncle, mostly just little things, but those are the things you miss. I'll miss you Uncle Joe' and I hope you're well. I think we have some of his old Tarzan books at my parents house, maybe I should read one.

Dark Carnival...

2005-09-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

This morning, after we picked up the kids. I took everyone to my favorite book store, Dark Carnival. I love this place, they have so many books and not enough shelf space. It's one of those places you go to when you want a book that's kind of rare or not in hardback anymore. They specialize in science fiction, fantasy, and mysteries. I wasn't sure how Shannon was going to like this place, I mean I knew she would like the selection, but I wasn't so sure about the clutter. Stacks and stacks of books, it's kind of hard to navigate through and she's a bit of a neat freak (just "a bit").

Yesterday morning Taylor and made waffles. While they were cooking, and the steam was billowing out, she says "I can smell them". Then she waves the steam toward her and says "come to me"... No wait it was more like " c o m e t o m e" sort of like the wicked queen in 'Snow White'. I looked at her and thought "where the heck did that come from?"

Well, I know this post was kind of lame, but I had to post something because I'm not sure I'll have time in the next few weeks. Shannon will be gone, leaving me hear with two kids, AARRGH. The next post should be about the crawl. "What's the crawl" you ask? Here's the link www.castrovalleycrawl.com and here's the link to Dark Carnival too www.darkcarnival.com check them out, come to the crawl go to the bookstore eat some pizza.

See ya....

Sam

2005-09-12T17:15:00.000-07:00

This is Samantha, my mom and dad's new puppy. She's very cute, and well behaved. My parents had to go to a wedding on Saturday, so we watched Sam for them. Daisy was a little rough with her at first, and Sam was a little afraid of Daisy, but after a while they were chasing each other around all over the house.

I kegged one batch of beer this weekend, I'll probably tap it next weekend before Shannon leaves for OK. I don't like when she is gone, I have a hard time getting everything done around here without her. She does most of the chores (which she tells me all the time) and I hate doing laundry. Besides, when she's gone I stay awake watching TV and don't get enough sleep.

Making beer.

2005-09-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made a batch of beer, and I thought "maybe I should do a little 'how to' blog" so here it goes. There are a few different types of home brewing; All grain, partial mash, and extract. Extract brewing is the most basic, all grain is the more time consuming and more difficult, and partial mash is an amalgam of the two.
I'm making an extract beer so my ingredients are; malt extract, grain (malted barly that has been roasted to different degrees of color and flavor), hops, yeast, and water.

First I weigh the grain, this recipe calls three types of grain.

Second, I steep the grain in the water for about 20 minutes. The water should not be boiling but should be about 170 F, usually I steep the grain as the water is getting hot, it takes a long time to boil 6 1/2 gallons of water. After removing the grain bring the water to a boil.

Step three, when the water is boiling I add and stir in the malt extract. Always turn off, or reduce the heat when adding the extract. It will sink to the bottom and burn. Return to a boil.

Step four, add the hops. These are the bittering hops, they are added to give that distinct hop flavor and as a preservative. Sometimes I will add the hops at three different intervals for different flavor characteristics.

Step five, boil and wait. Boil for 60 minutes (a good rolling boil) watch out for boil overs. At the end of the boil I add a small amount of hops, these are the aromatic hops. At this point its called wort (pronounced like word but with a 'T') it should be cooled as quickly as possible, either with a wort chiller ( a copper coil immersed in the wort, with cold water running through it) or by transferring the wort to a sanitized bucket and immersing the bucket in ice.

Transfer a small amount of wort to a beaker and measure it for sugar content (specific gravity).

Add the yeast and an airlock (lets CO2 out but won' let anything in) and place somewhere the temperature wont fluctuate too much. Wait... I like to rack the beer after about a week (move from one container to another) because it helps to clarify the beer. Wait about another week, then bottle or keg the beer (it's beer now). If I bottle it, it will be ready in about 2 weeks. If I keg it, it's ready in a few days.

Well,I know this was a long blog and I probably won't get many comments but I thought some people might be interested in how to homebrew. If you are interested in homebrewing, check out www.morebeer.com

I'll let you know how this batch turns out.

After that long break...

2005-08-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

These are a couple of shelves that I bought at Disneyland about 7 or 8 years ago. I've always liked them,I wouldn't say they're subtle, but they aren't as blatantly Disney as some things I've seen. Anyway I was told to post these for Apl.

This is a picture of the hops, they look like little green pine cones. This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago, but I've been busy re-reading the Harry Potter series again. I finished the last book and decided I needed to read them again. In 'the Order of the phoenix' when they are cleaning out number 12 Grimwald place, they find a large gold locket that none of them can open. Serius Black's brother was named Regulus...R.B...possibly R.A.B. For all you geeks out there, check it out.

The other reason I haven't posted in a while is because I didn't want to just rant again. We are having issues with our neighbor and it's really been gnawing away at my insides. But I don't want to just bitch about it on my blog because I don't want anyone to think that all I do is complain. Well any way, I'm hoping to brew a batch of beer this weekend. Maybe I'll make another batch of creme brulee, drink some port, smoke a cigar and relax.

Ranting

2005-07-28T15:56:00.000-07:00

If you've seen my comments on Shannon's blog, then you'll know what I am referring to. If not then you might want to read hers to get up to speed.

Why do stupid people have to ruin everything!?! You know the people I'm talking about, the people that failed kindergarten...Can you stand in a line? Do you know what a line is? Do they have lines in your country(state,city,town)? Can you just wait your f---ing turn! These are the people that think they deserve extra, because they did an extra special job of wiping their ass this morning...Well I'm here to tell you, you didn't and you still smell like shit so f--- off.

Why is there gum on the walls of the Materhorn? Just couldn't wait those extra 50 seconds until the ride was over to throw it away in the trash can properly? Why do you insist on being in places that you clearly are not meant to be? I hate you and you ugly, dirty, smelly rotten kids too. Perhaps you should not have squandered your money on vacation, and put it towards your kids education. Maybe then the chain of inbred assholes will be broken? Probably not though, I expect my kids will have the same low tolerance for stupid people that I do.

Now then,

Having a great time, wish you were here.

...I'm on vacation

2005-07-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

I meant to post something before I left, but I was busy getting ready to go. We are in Disneyland and having a great time, but this is the second time I've come here with kids. They are great because they are so excited, but they slow you down. At 2 o'clock everyone needs a nap, I could probably get by without one but everyone else is doing it....Well anyway everyone is awake and I'm trying to get them going so we can go back to the park.

Fun and wine, or wine and fun...

2005-07-17T13:38:00.000-07:00

So if you've seen Shannon's blog (www.knittinggeek.blogspot.com) you should know that we went wine tasting this weekend. Let me try to expand on this subject a bit. I really like wine...I really like beer too. Does this make me an alcoholic? No, it just makes me a fun date. We ate lunch at Cafe Don Giovanni, really f---ing good. Steve orders a half bottle of Rombauer chardonnay, we were impressed with this wine and Steve said we'd get there later because he wanted another bottle. Next we went to Trendle ( I think ) the wine was good but I didn't buy any. Then we went to St.Supery, it was pretty busy because we think there was a wedding setting up. Most of their wines where excellent, but one of the sauvignon blanc's tasted like grapefruit juice. Shannon did not like it. Their best wine was a moscato, we bought one, can't wait to drink it. Next we went next door to Peju, this place was packed and they were trying to do tasting in groups. We waited for about 15 mins. Then left. I think this is where I let Mang start driving. We drove on a bit and went to Beaulieu Vineyard. As soon as we walked in the door they handed us a glass of sauvignon blanc, we walked to the bar and tasted more wine but the best thing about this winery was that the guy behind the bar recognized Steve and Mang from their honey moon almost a year ago. When they had come in then he knew it was their honeymoon because Mangs hair was still done-up, her nails were done, and Steve's ring was way too shiny. He let us taste for free, then we went downstairs and bought more wine. An Alsatian style gewurtztraminer, and a pinot noir vin gris, both very good summer drinking wines. By this this time I'm pretty tipsy and Steve must have been too, because he was just talking up a storm. Finally we drive to Rombauer, it's about 4:30 and they stop tasting at 5:00. We tasted 3 wines here, but not the chardonnay. Why not? Because they were out of the '03 but the '04 was going to be just as good, and there's no reason to taste it because everyone is waiting to buy it anyway. Kind of snotty...But we bought it anyway. Then I overheard someone tasting the port, may I please try some ( I love port), it was amazing. We'd (pretty much spent all our money (we still had enough for dinner) but it was so good we had to buy it ( thank you Shannon ).

Anyway,we ate dinner at Mustards Grill while our wine buzz was wearing off. We tried to go somewhere for dessert but they were closed. So we just drove home very full and very tired.

pictures of Steve tasting and later chatting in the car. A sculpture outside St. Supery.

The not so long weekend

2005-07-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

This is an update on how the hops are growing. To anyone interested in gardening, I highly recommend planting some hops . They just need water and they grow like 15 feet high.

Well I guess I milked that long enough, 17 comments on one post was pretty good I think.

Last weekend I was so busy I felt like I ran myself ragged. This weekend however I have nothing to do, not one thing, nada. Even the honey-do list is pretty short. Man it feels nice to not have any responsibilities. Of course Shannon will read this and come up with a list so I may have blown a relaxing weekend all to hell.

I do have projects that need to get done, but nothing really pressing. We just got a new entertainment center that I need to sand and stain. We're going to take out the the carpet around the bar and install tile. We need a new garbage disposal, but none of this stuff has to be done in a weekend or by a certain date.

Soon all this lazy time will catch up with me and everything will be back to normal.

The Long Weekend

2005-07-04T23:08:00.000-07:00

This was the end of my long weekend. I made this wedding cake for my friend Dave.

All right, I guess I'll blog too

2005-07-02T00:13:00.000-07:00

So my wife has this blog, and I've been reading it, making comments and stuff. Her sister and mother do blogs, it all gets somewhat addicting, so here is mine.

My name is William, I live in a suburb of San Francisco with my wife and 2 kids. Life is just peachy. I have more hobbies than time, making beer, playing the drums, reading comics, anything to do with Star Wars...You get the picture. Well now I guess blogging will be another hobby, but I think I'll have to learn to type . I've been putting it off for 30 something years and I just can't escape it anymore.