6 Person Gin Rummy?

Davy & Kelly had a butt ton of kids over to their house tonight for a bomb ravioli dinner.  It was an awesome dinner, but the fun really got started when we got the games out.  We started with Cranium, but the muffs (girls) didn’t last long against the superior teamwork of the sausages (boys).  We tried to play cards next, but no one could think of a game to play that everyone knew.  I offered to teach rummy to the group and we got started on a practice hand.  It didn’t take very long to see that it wasn’t going to work with 6 people because we didn’t have enough cards.  Whoops, I guess I should have thought of that first.  It was just as well because by that point people were getting tired.  We poked around on You-Tube for a few more minutes and then said goodnight.  

Big ups to the Groves for hosting such a pimp gathering.

Photo Booth Fun

All Macintosh computers come with a program called photo booth that allows you to use the Mac’s built in camera to take snapshots of yourself.  From there you can add all kinds of different effects to tweak your images.  Not an amazingly useful program, but a more than adequate diversion while you wait for a download to finish.  If you’re the emoticon type this would be a fun way to make your own custom set.  If you’re enjoying this image make sure to check out the detail in the full size version on Flickr by clicking the picture itself.

My First V1

This is the boulder route that I ripped that flapper on. I’ve done it before, but I was able to do it a few more times tonight. Now I need to find a new route to work on tomorrow.

Announcement: Comment Follow Ups Now Available

Something that has always bothered me about this website’s design is the inability for non account holders to get comment tracking.  Comments just aren’t as fun when you don’t see what everyone else is saying because you forgot to check back.  Well now WordPress has added a check box in the commenting section that will allow you to recieve notification via email of follow ups to your comment.  All you have to do is click the box before you submit your comment and then you’ll get an email back if someone posts a follow up to your comment.  That way you can keep up with the conversation without having to dig through the older posts (which can be fun now that there are 6 months worth of daily posts).  I’ve said it before, but it’s been a while so I’ll mention again that your email isn’t stored, sold, or spammed so please don’t be afraid to jump in and start commenting.  I love hearing your reactions to what’s going on here.

Franks and Beans

This picture makes me feel like a little kid.  It reminds me of the types of dinners I’d make myself in middle school after soccer practice.  I would basically just grab whatever I could find to get ready in 10 – 15 mins.  Usually it involved nuking something in the microwave while getting a glass of Kool-Aid.  This isn’t something I eat much anymore, but when Aimee offered to make dinner I thought, the simpler the better.  She’s not a bad cook, she just never cooks anything so I don’t expect much.  That being said I was excited for this meal.  She came through with an awesome dinner and I really gotta give her props for the presentation.

Lookout Jacob!

No wonder why Iris is such a beggar around the table.

Marquee Mishap

This church is always making spelling errors on their marquee.  They messed up Hallelujah which is totally acceptable, but once they spelled Jesus, “Jeasus”.  Although this isn’t a particularly funny example, I felt the need to start recording these mishaps since they are so prevalent.  Watch them go and start spellin good and not give me any more photos.

Falling Creek Disc Golf

Toady I ventured out to Bedford to play a new disc golf course.  I was invited to go with a couple of co-workers and their significant others.  It is situated within the quickly growing Falling Creek Park, that just added mountain bike trails last year.  I’ve played a decent number of the public courses around the state and my initial impressions of this course are very favorable.  It is a long course on the front nine and then becomes shorter, but more technical on the back nine.  There was only one hole that I thought suffered from poor design, but I think it may be a work in progress.  It was definitely a challenging course and one that I’ll make the effort to play again.

Homemade Cookies?

The Hazlegroves invited us over for dinner tonight to have sweet potato burritos.  Kelly got really excited when it was her turn to put one together.  After dinner Davy treated us to a Hazlegrove mainstay, up-chipped cookies.  You start with pre-packaged cookies with extra chocolate chips.  Then you add extra chips to the dough in a careful process.  It sounds simple, but I think you’ll agree after you watch this video, that Davy has taken it to a whole new level.  Big thanks to the Groves for dinner and dessert, both equally amazing.

Dangers of Rock Climbing

The last time I was at the rock gym I had a really good workout and sent some new routes.  Tonight I wasn’t nearly as lucky.  It started out well enough when I was warming up doing some easy bouldering routes.  After finishing a couple of those, I was ready to try a problem that I’ve been working on for a couple days now.  I quickly got to the point where I get stuck, but then made a quick and decisive move to finish the route.  I was so excited to have sent this route before Aimee because she was giving me crap, telling me how hard it was and suggesting maybe I should try an easier one first.  I quickly brought her over to show her my progress and help her finish it too.  I tried to hop right back on the wall and send it again to show Aimee, but my arms were too pumped out and I couldn’t make it.  After Aimee tried a couple times without success I offered to try to show her the move that finished it for me.  I hopped straight up to the tricky part and showed her my technique.  I proceeded to do the same move a couple times in a row to demonstrate it to her.  Now that I had a little confidence back, I tried to climb the route again.  I was working my way up the wall when I stretched for a hold, but couldn’t keep my grip.  I came off the wall and felt a quick burning sensation on my hand.  When I looked down I saw that I had pulled a large flap of skin away from my pinky.  It looks a lot more gruesome than it feels, but it still shortened my night at the gym.  I was able to tape it, but at a severe cost to my dexterity.  That, coupled with my weak, tired arms made for a lousy workout tonight.  The good news is that my expectations are now lowered so next time almost has to be good by default.