Day 147: Another Kind of Game Day!

Not ALL game day's are about KU!  Today I went over to Kristie and Ryan's house, along with Alison, Rob, and Zach, to help them move their second 500lb DDR machine upstairs into the game room.  Unfortunately, it had been raining and the ground was too wet to move the machine - it would have just sunk into their lawn.  So instead, we talked and played games all day and all night!  They made some awesome curry for dinner, then we started up the DDR machine and lots of board/gard/dice games.

Eric joined us around 10:30 and we replayed some of the games.  We also watched about 2 hours of YouTube videos before crashing at 4am... That's definitely the latest I've been up in AGES!  Even Eric said that was late for him.

Kristie and I dancing - All of us danced on and off for about 5 hours straight!

Kristie and Ali play on the most difficult setting, so they have to hold the bar to keep from falling as their legs fly in circles.

Ali and Rob danced while Zach played the fighting game - he beat everyone by button mashing!

This game is called Tsuro, it reminds me of pipe dream.  You lay out tiles and move your piece along the line that you create.  The goal is to NOT go off the edge of the board or run into another player.

Zach beat everyone through totally random guessing!

Then we played Carcassonne - where the objective is to collect points from cities, farms, roads, and citadels.  Another one where each player lays a tile on their turn.  If I remember correctly... I'm green, Zach is yellow, Ryan is red, Ali is blue, and Rob is black.

Zach had something in his eye and was making crazy faces.

The madness continues, and I can't remember who ended up winning.  I was definitely in last place though, I didn't understand the scoring system until too late!

Chez Geek was a pretty cool card game, with very funny taglines on the cards.  You have a job which is paired with an objective, and have to complete various activities/buy items in order to win.

This is the only picture from when Eric played with us - Kristie, Ryan, Eric and I played and at the end of the game (before I won) we ended up with Kristie and Ryan right next to each other (red & white), and Eric and me right next to each other (black & green).

We also played a game called Guillotine - where you collect points by offing nobles!

Day 146: Bit of a Breather

Today was kind of nice. Nothing particularly exciting happened, and sometimes that's for the best. Jess had conferences over the last couple days at school and didn't have school today so we slept in. We finally got up around 11ish and hung out about the house for a bit. We did some cleaning, dishes and laundry, etc. It was a weird day for me too, as I was scheduled to work at 2:30 instead of noon as usual. It didn't change the course of the day much, just altered the feel of it a bit. After I got off work, we hung out watching tv for a little while, and cuddling with the cats. That's all, folks.

 Mystic lounging on me lounging on couch.

Day 145: Date Night at Old Chicago

Today is Veteran's Day and Old Chicago put $5 of Foamer Bucks on World Beer Tour members' cards so we would come in for a drink.  Well, this advertising totally worked on us and we made it an excuse for a date night!  We had a couple drinks and Eric had the Thai Steak Wrap, while I had the Thai Pie pizza.

Lucky for us, OC has trivia night on Thursday!  We only stayed for half the game because it was late and apparent that we were NOT going to win anything.  A brief overview of questions, our answers, and the correct answers: What is the code of knights?  Us: Chivalry! [correct!]; What burrowing cousin of squirrels is named after canines? Us: Ground hog? [wrong!  Prairie Dog!]; What is the shape of the phone in Juno? Us: Hamburger! [correct!]; What sport did the actor from My Name is Earl compete in? Us: Bowling? [Wrong!  skateboarding]; What product has a character named Punchy that defeats a character named Oaf? Us: Hawaiian Punch! [correct!]; What disease does the Wasserman test diagnose? Us: Parkinsons? [wrong!  syphilis]; What is the 5th greatest Canadian invention? Us: CD Player? [wrong!  Wonderbra]; Who played JD in Thelma and Louise? Us: Bob Barker? [Wrong! Brad Pitt]; Jimmy Kimmel suffers from what sleep disorder? Us: Sleep eating? [wrong! narcolepsy]; What 4 elements are essential to life? Us: nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen [correct!]

We had 28 points and were in 14th place when we left - but this was out of more than 30 players and 8 were tied for first!

Yum, Old Chicago makes some good pizza and french fries!

Trivia!  I thought we were doing pretty great until they read off the scores at halftime...

Day 144: That's Not Good Enough!

Eric got some solo practice of bargain hunting today!  Last night I did some internet window shopping and found the new wireless router that we need ($20) and a new twin sized heating blanket with 10 heat options and a 10 hour auto shut off to keep you warm thorugh the night ($20).  Both of these amazing deals were at WalMart, so I did the hunting and sent Eric in for the kill before he went to work.

He found the heating blanket and had to call because they didn't have the color I asked him to get and the price was $30 in the store.  I tell him that any color is fine, and to talk to a manager about getting the price on their website - end call.  I get another call a few minutes later, the router isn't on the shelf and it is also prices at $30!  The website showed the router as in stock at that store, so I told him to ask an employee and get the price fixed on that too.  Lame-o manager says they can't price match to the website, which isn't true (unless they changed their policy in the last few months) because a cashier matched a price for me a few months ago.

Eric ended up going to work with no new router or blanket - sad story.  I hunted some more online and didn't find anything close to the $20 price range at other stores, I was hoping to avoid giving WalMart our money after all of that.  But we ended up buying them off the website, for only $.97 shipping, and will have our items at a reasonable price in a week or so.

My new brown heating blanket!

Shiny new wireless router!  I can't believe I have to be wired into the modem until next week... How will I survive?

Day 143: Internet & KU Basketball!

For the past 6+ months, Eric and I have been paying outrageous prices for going over our internet bandwidth.  Because Netflix is a dear part of our lives, we can't decrease the amount we use.  So it's a "Going On A Bear Hunt" dilemma - can't pay that much, can't decrease use, we'll have to upgrade the internet!  (Thank you to everyone who understoof the analogy!)  Luckily, Sunflower Broadband is having a special right now where the upgraded internet is 1/2 price for 6 months.  (Half price for 6 months + full price for 6 months) divided by 12 months = the exact same thing we're paying right now, minus the overage charges!  Hooray!

After dealing with the internet, we headed over to Allen Fieldhouse to watch the "Birds and the Bees" basketball game, KU Jayhawks v. Emporia State Hornets.  It was a good game to watch, and Sasha Kaun was there with his wife!  Eric and I explored the displays in the fieldhouse after the game.  Because we hardly get to spend time together, it was a very nice date night!

Oh, how I love thee, Allen Fieldhouse!

Rock Chalk, baby!

Loving the new crimson uniforms!

Sasha Kaun!  And his crazy weird crutches...

An awesome championship mural.

My favorite Jayhawk, I'll have a tattoo of him someday!

The measurement of KU basketball players' arm span!

My hand compared to Cole Alrich's... [swoon]

Awe, Eric just doesn't measure up to Cole!

Basketball Championships!

2008 was an amazing year to be a Jayhawk!

 The 1952 Championship trophy, wow!

Closeup!

Day 142: Lunchboxes Galore

Hola, Eric here. Today was pretty much the usual. The gym, and Eastern Religions at 6. Then after class I stopped by Alison's to drop off some of Jae Bird's homeopathic remedies we brought back from New Mexico. She's been feeling a bit under the weather lately and we suggested maybe these could help. After dropping those off, I went home and got settled in playing Fallout 3. On the Play Station Network, one can earn trophies for accomplishing certain things in games. I'm collecting Fallout trophies right now, and one of them I'm close to getting is creating all the custom weapons. One of these is called a Bottlecap mine. It's made up of sensor modules, bottle caps (in game currency), cherry bombs, and of course a lunchbox! Playing Fallout always makes me thirsty, and it just so happens that at that time I had some beer and orange juice. All we needed was Amaretto, and we could make a tasty drink called...a Lunchbox! These sound like odd ingredients, but when you put it all together it makes an interesting and delicious drink. To make a Lunchbox: Pour half a glass of beer, drop in a shot of Amaretto, and top with orange juice, and chug! Alternatively, you can make a Lunch Bucket. This is just mixing the beer, orange juice, and Amaretto in the glass.

 The components of a Lunchbox

 Polishing that one off

I ate an apple down to the tiny core

Day 141: Consecration Sunday

Today Eric and I went to St. Thomas for their Consecration Sunday.  We visited Grammy's tree and Andrew gave one of the branches a nice gnawing on.  They read the names of people who have passed away in the last year, and after the reading had been going on for about 5 minutes I thought that I would be fine when they read Grammy's name.  But my dear Eric had to touch my back when they read "Pamela", so I started crying - I can't handle hugs or being touched when I'm emotional.  After the service, there was a big dinner for everyone.  Eric and I got Andrew out of daycare and enjoyed chatting with a few people while eating.  Naturally, everyone loves Andrew and his toothy smiles.  He got his face painted like a cat, meow!

Later, Eric headed back to Lawrence for work and I spent the day with Andrew.  In the evening he went to the Dave Ramsey childcare, and didn't seem too impressed with their toy selection.  All in all, another good weekend!

Andrew giving Grammy some love.

Eric, Andrew, and me at dinner.

Kitty cat Andrew!

 I tried to pass Chaos off as Andrew when Sarah came to pick him up!