Eatin Good In MI

Fri-
Omelets & Hashbrowns
Lunch- Hot & Sour soup, Fruit Salad, Crostini
Supper- NY Steaks (grilled), Rutabega & Carrot Bake, Fresh Greens Salad

Sat am-
Bagels & Cream Cheese, Omelets
Lunch- Veg Beef Soup, Cheese & Crackers wi/Elk & Venison Sausage (from Montana)
Supper- Crusted Salmon (from Lake MI that my Aunt & Uncle caught), Lemon Couscous, baguettes, cole slaw, Wild Blueberry Pie (my Aunt & Uncle picked them)

Christmas-
Joshua's oven-baked omelet, sweet rolls (all baked in the shape of a pine tree), and fruit
Lunch- (grazing) Hot &Sour / Beef soups, Cheese & Crackers with (some more of that outstanding) Lake Salmon (but Smoked this time!), Sand Shrimp Cocktail
Supper- Baked Pheasant with Morel Mushrooms Calso hand picked by my Aunt & Uncle), mixed veg, cranberry relish, bagguettes, and salad.

40o And Rainy

I think I brought the warm weather from AZ with me to Michigan. Its almost 40o F here. All the snow is getting slushy and it's even raining.

MoA Baby!

In all the rush and with sleeping all last weekend away with pneumonia I never had a chance to shop for gifts this holiday. Good thing my extended layover in Minnesota landed me next to the Mall of America. I am excited to see a lot of relatives this weekend!

Things that make you go Hmmm...

In Phoenix they're all in English and Spanish...

Pneumonia Sucks

16 workouts missed

5 pounds of muscle lost

4 doctors visits

3 days out of work

2 good parties missed

3 types of RX drugs

3 types of nasal sprays

1 really good friend made sick

1 cat scan of my head

1 x-ray of my chest And not even a partridge in a pear tree for all this trouble.

Sumo Hockey

At 2 - 0 Lightning vs. Coyotes the Sumo Hockey players in the end of the 2nd period are the best part of the game. Did the Cardinals give some of their players to the Coyotes this year?

Home For Orphaned Pastries

We arrived at the movies early last night to see The Chronicles of Narnia. I wanted to grab something to drink to stay hydrated after losing a ton of fluid to this stupid sinus infrection of three weeks now. It's definitely not gettting better so I am hitting up the doc's office yet again this week. I am so sick of the russian roulettte of decongestants, and nasal sprays that all work for about an hour then quit.

Anyway Velasco and I hit up the Coffee Plantation across the street where I purchased a hot chocolate. The case had some good looking pastries in it. On second look I noticed there was only one of each type left in it. It seemed like these were the last of the pastries for the day waiting, hoping someone would purchase them and devour them there or take them home and zap them in a microwave the next morning to cram them down with a coffee on the way to work to prevent them from being thrown in the rubbish at the end of the night. Coffee Plantation's Home for Orphaned Pastries.

Dang Bro Can You Cook!

I found the stray's owners, they put up posters on the street where I found her. The only tough part about the whole experience was when I got home from the gym after work. She was a little stressed about getting out of the house, so she tore up all my aluminum blinds on the windows and french doors. Great! I wanted to get different ones anyway but it still bites until I replace them. After dropping Allie off at her owner's, I hit up Velasco's for dinner last night. He made his first chicken parmasean, and it rocked.

LOST DOGS

Found a stray today. Now comes the whole trial of finding the owner (if I can). She seems like a great pup and gets along with Dante fine. He's excited to have a live-in girlfriend right now. Really excited. I am going to hit up the neighbor-hood where I found her roaming with signs and flyers this week, and take her to the vet to see if she has a chip in her.

Late Nite Chow

Philadelephia Sandwich Company 24 hours baby!.

Family Day 2005
Everything went well at our annual Family day today. I even got to meet a new friend. This is one of the critters one of my guys had on display. He has a whole menagierie at his house for breeding and selling exotic animals. We also had Hummer rides and some blackhawks on display.

Sean and Velasco taking a ride in one of my trucks.

Jamie the Javelina!

I wish I had your seats Thom! After the game I found out about six of my friends were there too. That's a decent tailgate party. Next game. :)

AZ vs SC

Yeah they bite, but still a fun game. AZ Cardinals vs. SC Jaguars.

After moving the wood-pile today I was pretty hot. But like all pools in Scottsdale mine isn't that warm right now... the plunge reminded me of the waters off the coast of Maine in the springtime. Once my extremeties were sufficiently numb I decided it was a good idea not to try for another cannonball off the diving board. Off to the gym then out to tour some of the bars in Phoenix with "Boston Jonny" and the Hilliker crew if I can keep up.

Cranberries and Confidants

I can't say I was pleased to head into work today after "G.W." pardoned two Turkeys but apparently forgot to give the federal workforce Friday off like the last 4 years.

I was happy to visit with my cousin Kristin who I haven't seen in about 15 years. Too much to catch up on at the dinner table with my Aunt Faye and the crew at her house. Not to mention keeping the four dogs at bay from the table. Dante was an angel the whole time. He usually is until someone leaves the room then he thinks it's carte blanche to drag any morsel of food - wrapped or not off of any counter or table. Luckily that didn't happen.

After taking a plate to my other Aunt in TUS I headed back to PHX. There I grabbed another amazing meal prepared by 'Boston Johnny' and ended up staying there for a while enjoying the good company and wine and of course lots of chocolate, almost (sorry I have to be honest John) the best Tiramisu, and some killer rasberry cheescake before finally heading back home.


A strange Phenomena that has started this week is becoming the 'confidant'. On more than one occasion this week someone has approached me (and sometimes quite obliquely) to confide that this or that person they are dating, engaged to, or currently seeing isn't the right one. Perhaps I am oozing some pheremone of the brokenhearted. Being in the tail-end of the "I'm over being depreessed still kind of pissed-off" stage of realizing my heart wasn't in the right place at the right time to start something. It must be some resonant connection that is attracting these folks to me. In one instance it was someone whom I met only once before. Maybe some people like to hit up a 'stranger' with this stuff because they think they'll recieve an objective response without knowing the history.

To everyone who catches this in time, I hope you all have or are having a great Holiday Weekend. (Hmmm.... Vegas actually sounds like fun, Ed) I think I am going to hit the gym then spend the night polishing off as much of Robert Jordan's latest as I can make it through.

Cheers.

AZ vs. CA

@ The Coyotes Game

Coyotes vs. The Ducks

Howl for the Coyotes!

CPT A

Yeah, pretty cheesy. Still a great T-shirt...

V & I by the pool

Ahh, Life in Phoenix in November. Can't beat the weather now. Spent a really nice weekend at home for the first time in a while. Definitely one of the best weekends I have had here so far. Went out with some friends Friday. Saturday night we had a few rounds of poker and then out to check out the pending remodeling of a bar in Scottsdale. Sunday I had breakfast with my friend Ed and Velasco at this awesome spot in Phoenix, La Grande Orange . Spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool reading Robert Jordan's latest. I am excited to see my cousin Kristin this week when I visit my aunt in Tucson for Thanksgiving. I haven't seen my cousin in about 10 years.