To start things off, I somehow managed to swing 3 weeks off from work over the holidays. The mini-vacation after launch was great, but I needed a bit more time to go visit the family out in Alabama and get to know my inner slacker again. Needless to say, we enjoyed each others company (Me and my slack...wether the family can stand me for 2 weeks at a pop is still undecided).

Spent just under two weeks out at Castle Junior. My mother continues to astound me with her decorating prowess. I love to tease her about the "junk" she buys, but she truly has amazing skills when it comes to the holiday festivities (She was even featured in the Denver Post back in the day!). I'd go into all the wonderful food she made me while I was down there, but I'm sure there's a max character limit here. Thanks for the chili!

Dad took a break from building his dream castle while we were out. Much XBOX was played, and we bonded as we always do. Talked him into buying a TomTom...only took a week of nagging. It was amusing to see all the routes it wanted to take them to get back home up the mountain to the middle-of-nowhere. Thanks for the Krystals!

Scott, An, Pollux and Hoshi made it out a week after I did. Mom was thankful since it took our attention away from teasing her, and planted it directly on An. She makes such an easy target :) Unfortunately I've confirmed what I dreaded for the last month or so...I am infact now allergic to dogs. Was painful not being able to play around with them too much, but still always fun to be around them. I just don't understand how 2 dogs heads can get so large. Thanks for destroying the evil Estovokians Scott...and for not taking any of my stuff An!

My Grandfather gave us quite a scare while we were in town with a couple trips to the Hospital. He's recovering well now, and my prayers are still with him for a full recovery. Roll Tide Grandaddy!

Finally returning home the day before the New Years, it was time to get ready for the party I had been volunteered to host! I have no idea what the final head count was on attendees, but we pretty much doubled last years party. Count on another next year as I can't think of a finer group of people I would have rather spent the evening with!

Everything between New Years and now has pretty much been a blur. Fondue, Birthdays, BBQs, Movies, Go-Karting, Sushi, Karaoke, Drunk Marines, Dancing, News Crews, Eiffel-Towers-A-Plenty, and more Rock-Band then you can shake a drum-stick at....all in all, back to normal.

Looking forward, and after a bit of house cleaning, this might not be a bad year afterall. Happy belated New Years!

Well I finally broke down and gave into the urge to pick up a Bass and relive the glorious moments of my youth as a rockstar! I still have nightmares about the "Battle of the Bands" at the Community Center in High School. You know you're doomed when the band preceding you actually has an entire basket-ball court cheering their name as they take stage...oh well...at least our lead singer got to do more then just sleep on the couch during practice.

Amusingly enough, there have been posts all across the gaming-sphere about Guitar Hero and Rock Band leading players to actually pick up instruments and give the real thing a run for it's money. Guess they hold a bit of truth, at least for this old man.

Additionally...after some poking and prodding from Cat, I've gone ahead and setup an RSS feed for the site. No more need to check the site daily for those updates that come once a year or so!

Luke and Dustin rocking out at Scott's Thanksgiving Festivus:

Cassy attempting to usurp Tami's crown as Queen of the Mic:

About as much as I could pull off after a week of the game being live:

Out at the Carriage House last night, it was just like old times again. A couple parties exchanged words that didn't go over well, and then they exchanged beer bottles and whatever else they could get their hands on. In the process, the lovely bartenders decided to hop over and break it up. Once they turned on them, a bunch of the regulars and myself ended up in the middle trying to get them out. It was actually a bit longer then any fight I've grown accustomed to, moving back and forth across the bar for a good 5 minutes. After the crowd was pushed out into the parking lot, the door manager locked the place down and called the police.

After the dust settled, we all moved outside to see what was left, and watched both parties flee the scene (Unfortunately only a couple minutes before the police arrived). My poor Mazda3 didn't fair as well as I, losing it's back windshield. Guess I parked in the wrong place at the wrong time!

The police took all the information, and looked around for any blood in the car, but couldn't find anything. Without the license plate information they really didn't think there was anything they could do, so I'll be getting her fixed early this week. I have faith in the Mazda guys...they can make her faster, strong, blah blah.

Best lines of the evening:

Women being questioned by one of the officers - "I can't believe this happened, this is a family bar!"

When asked if I could take a photo of the officers - "Sorry sir, I don't know what it's like in Texas, but in California we try to avoid pictures and videos"

After that, the weekend pretty much revolved around the car. Spent most of Saturday trapped down at AudioCar having tint and some other fun toys installed. They came highly recommended from the dealership, and overall I was impressed with the quality of service provided. Would have been a hell of a lot quicker getting in and out had TomTom not failed me!

Unfortunately all the time out in the sun waiting for the tint meant I was going to be late for Scott's BBQ/Birthday Bash - better late then never. Always a fun time hanging out with the guys, and a bonus getting to hang out with friends who have since moved out of my life.

Took advantage of the long weekend, and navigated north along the coast to check out some of the Labor Day beach action. Managed to actually make it out to the beach once again during the day...next time I'll have to bring Cassy with me, she's always a crowd pleaser.

Later on we had a small BBQ at the house to wrap up the weekend. Ben, Dustin and Luke whipped us up an amazing meal, with Cat providing some awesome cookies! Time to make use of the grill while the weather still rocks out here (And by rocks I mean so hot and miserable that it brings Air Conditioners to their knees).

It all started off according to plans...a friendly outing to Benihana. What normally is reserved for group occasions, ended up being a hell of a lot of fun with just two. Ever wonder what the odd couple does when they are surrounded by a party of six? The answer: Make fun of the party of six. We were seated with a bunch of Oklahoma jocks and their girlfriends...and a baby...poor Cat :) Our waitress seemed to be hitting on Cat all night long (Yukee rocks!), and tried to carry on numerous conversations with her...to which Cat walked away gleaming only her name. All was well though, she treated us to some free Tofu...yay? After Cat was nearly hosed down by a passing waiter, we bailed for another trip to Extraordinary Desserts!

Saturday looked to be a lot more relaxing. Started off with a bit of work in the morning, and a late lunch at the old stand-by. A bit of Guitar Hero action in the afternoon, which ended prematurely due to the unbearable heat at the house (oh how I miss you central AC). The urge to perforate our heads a bit more kicked in, so we went out to PB for another round of piercings at Enigma. Ended up replacing the original flesh loops with a darker pair (a wee-bit larger...oops!), and decided to give in to my OCD by balancing out the right with a Daith piercing.

With the urge to poke holes in our head passing, we head out to meet up with the gang down at South Mission Beach for Vanessa's Bonfire! Lacking any sense of direction between the both of us, multiple calls were made to the lovely Tracy to guide us on our way. For the first time in my short two year stint in California, I'd finally made it out to the beach. Someday I'll make it down when the sun is still up...crazy talk, I know. Was a nice relaxing night (woot, finally), with Beach-Guitar Hero and marshmallows for all. We wrapped up the night after everyone took off with a quick trip to Roberto's for a late night snack.

Fortunately for me, I have friends who go through the same thing, and we had a blast this weekend. Starting out with dinner and Karaoke on Friday. Saturday I found myself experiencing what can only be described as the worst Brazilian BBQ on the planet (Ugh, it was like microwaved Lunchables), and continuing with another euphoric trip to Extraordinary Desserts, wrapping up the night with a bit of clubbing/people watching at the AC Lounge, and even more Karaoke. On Sunday I finally made it out to PB, where we ended up getting some piercing done at Enigma.

Stay tuned as I continue to stare into the Abyss...what the hell...maybe it'll stare back at me and change things for the better.

Cassy2.avi
Cassy3.avi
Cassy4.avi

(Yah it's in Windows Media format, but I'm to tired after playing with her all night to convert it into anything worthwhile)