Author: ryan

The end of another year

Happy New Year! Last night Kelly and I had a small gathering at our house (friends who, like ourselves, didn’t have plans) to snack and drink away the last few hours of 2007. My sickness has just about run it’s course so I knew I was fine to have some beers (mmmm… Smithwick’s), however after enough beer I felt fine enough to have a few cigarettes, and am paying the price for those today (‘The Sick Strikes Back’). Otherwise I left the evening relatively unscathed. Kelly, on the other hand, is a wee bit delicate this morning. 😉

One benefit to throwing a party are the leftovers, of which we have plenty. I say benefit, though it’s all fatty foods (dips, chips, sweets, etc) I don’t need, but will nevertheless eat at all day.

Here’s short summary of my 2007:

I became an uncle!
Kelly and I went to London
I went to quite a few shows
Kelly and I both bought MacBooks
I worked a lot
I went out to the pubs a lot

Now, on to 2008…

Beer Entertainment Food Movies Work

Sick, dammit all to hell

Hrmph. This figures. I have a nasty head & chest cold. It started the day after Christmas (Boxing day), and hasn’t let up yet. I’ve spent the last 3 days in the house coughing and blowing my nose. This SUCKS. I take time off from work… valuable, precious time off work… and I get sick. Argh!

I’ve watched a bunch of TV (more Law & Order: Criminal Intent than most people see in an entire year), some movies (including finally watching Blood Diamond, good film), and playing Call of Duty 4 when my head feels up to it.

I’m starting to get antsy. Mid-day today I felt pretty decent, but by 4pm it all started going wrong again, and now, even after Kelly went and picked up Thai take-out (mmmm… spicey fried rice from Tuk Tuk), I’m completely stuffed up. I am, however, saying ‘to hell with it’ and am sipping on a beer. I figure, it’ll probably help me sleep, so whatever. And it’s Friday.

Beer Entertainment General

Christmas ‘n stuff

Merry Christmas (and other, less religion-specific seasonal wishes)! Last night Kelly and I met my family out in Hillsboro for a Christmas Eve church service, followed by a short stop at my sis-in-laws parents place for some food at their annual open house thing. At around 9pm Kelly and I left the quiet shindig and headed up to my folks house to spend the night. After a few hours hanging out with the family (mainly my mom and my youngest brother C) Kelly and I went to bed. Since the spare room was full, we spent the night in my folks 5th-wheel trailer, a giant, apartment-sized thing that’s parked in the lower driveway.

We woke up around 8:00am, pulled on our coats and walked to the house where we got some coffee and some heavily sugared cookies in us to wake us up. After Brother T, sis-in-law, and nephew arrived we got around to opening gifts. Then, during the gift giving, it started snowing! And then, it just kept on snowing. By the time we’d finished opening gifts the ground was getting very white. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a White Christmas, and it’s very rare nowadays (compared to when I was a kid). Bonus photos: Kelly enjoying the snow, and the burning of the torn up wrapping paper and empty boxes.

Kelly and I left my parents place before dark to make sure and get on the highways before the snow got any deeper. We made it home and were unpacked by 5:30pm, early enough for me to install and play a little bit of Call of Duty 4. Pretty sweet! At around 7pm we met Snooks & L at Kennedy School for a few Christmas Day beers.

Oh, and no, I didn’t get the life-sized Cylon.

Entertainment Television

Last minute gift ideas

Cylon Anybody looking for a last-minute gift idea to buy me? You can buy me this life-sized Cylon Centurion!

That’s right, a Cylon complete with the eerie red eyes and audible hum sound.

I have no idea where I’d put such a thing.

Perhaps I’d place Fred (I’d call him Fred) in the living room where it would creep Kelly and I out as we shuffle downstairs each morning for our coffee?

Maybe Fred would find a good spot right outside the front door to scare off petitioners, Jehovah’s Witnesses, meter readers, and postal workers?

Either way, you would be assured that your $7,900 wouldn’t be wasted.

Beer General

Family get-together, & beers with a friend

Post author By ryan
Post date December 23, 2007
2 Comments on Family get-together, & beers with a friend

Woke up around 8am today after crashing around 10pm last night. I guess I’m still feeling exhausted from the work week (and I might be fighting a bug, feeling generally blergh). I spent most of my day tinkering about the house, cleaning up music files, and playing ‘tech support’ for a friend.

This afternoon Kelly and I went to my Aunt’s house for a Christmas gathering, where I got to visit with with some family I rarely get to see, including my cousin “J” whom I had a really fun time chatting with, something that rarely happens.

After leaving my Aunt’s place we met our good friend JB at the Mash Tun for some drinks and some fun conversation. While there I got to try the Tun’s current brews, including the Watership Brown and a stout (the name escapes me), both of were pretty good. The barkeep had at one point poured himself a little sample of both combined and said it was really good, so I had my next pint a half-n-half of the brown and the stout, and it was pretty delicious. Ended up having another couple of those before Kelly and I went home. 🙂

I still need to wrap gifts. I keep getting distracted. Hrmph!

It sounds like Kelly and I will be going out to my folks place tomorrow night and staying through Christmas day. I think I’m going to bring my old WiFi router out to my parents and leave it there, so I can bring my laptop and get online without being stuck in the back room. I will probably blog again from my folks house tomorrow night. If not, Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays to y’all.