Posts Tagged ‘John’

• Uhhh….

  Date: 2010.07.07 | Category: Life as we know it, wedding | Response: 0

  We’re getting hitched in 10 days….

  that’s just around the corner

• The Happy Guy

  Date: 2010.03.07 | Category: Life as we know it | Response: 0

  If you’re reading this you’ve obviously been here before. Seldom does this website get random visitors so I know most of my audience. You’re aware of my temperament. You know that I like to rant and I fly off the handle with ease. This blog (in its various incarnations) has been a venue for my frustration for the last… 7 years? Lately, I’ve noticed a change that makes it harder for me to deliver my normal shtick. I’ve become “The Happy Guy.”

  You’ve seen that guy in the morning. It’s early, the sun isn’t over the horizon, and this guy is wide awake and ready to go. He’s walking at a brisk pace and is probably smiling about something. Why in the world would anyone have something to smile about so early in the morning? He hums and whistles little tunes to himself and talks to almost everyone he sees. He is quick with the “good mornings” followed by smile. His smile, unlike yours, isn’t forced this early in the morning. He does it because he is “The Happy Guy.” His voice is booming – he is trying to wake you up. He says things like “isn’t everybody here a giant ray of sunshine”. You want to stab him in the neck – stupid “Happy Guy.” He thanks all of the servers as they load his plate with breakfast. He doesn’t like breakfast but he’s a “Happy Guy” and he is excited to face the day ahead so it doesn’t bother him. You hate breakfast – you want to have coffee and cigarettes and go back to bed – this “Happy Guy” is really getting on your nerves. All day long you see him smiling, joking, and laughing with anyone and everyone. Sure, this “Happy Guy” swears every which way to Sunday and he has his gripes but as soon as they are out of the way he is back to being happy. You want to stew on your unhappiness and hold it close – he lets it go as fast as it’s out of his mouth. You envy “The Happy Guy” but you know that you could never be like that…

  How in the world did I make this transformation? I have a fantastic fiance waiting for me at home, I’m going to get married later this summer, and I have a new job and a new future on the horizon. I’m also tired of being sad and angry. It’s so much easier to smile the day away – much to the chagrin of everyone else. Frankly, I’m glad to be the happy guy. I’m glad I made it out of my rut. Sadly, it leaves me with much less to write about. I’m sure I’ll think of something.

• I’m not good at it – but it doesn’t stop me from trying

  Date: 2009.10.11 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 0

  There are two pieces of furniture in my parents house that I “helped” my dad put together. Each piece we designed, assembled and finished. With all of that “knowledge” I thought that it would be relatively easy to build two benches and refinish and old table. How wrong I was.

  So far I’ve stained on of the two benches and the results were…. bad. I didn’t like it but I “thought” that it might dry a little bit lighter. It didn’t. I brought in QA and she didn’t like the results either. Tomorrow I’ve got to figure out how to remove the varnish without hours and hours of sanding. I did buy some varnish stripper but I don’t think I can get rid of it all without some sanding. I’m worried that when I put on the new varnish it won’t match the as yet unvarnished other bench. The table, made of slightly different pine is bound to not match colors either… this is difficult. I want it to be perfect – it isn’t yet.

  The table has brought its own set of challenges. The biggest challenge was removing all of the old stain and defects in the wood. I decided to fix the wood by removing the wood. There is a six inch patch on the top where I was slightly over zealous with a belt sander. After some research I decided to fill the patch with wood filler and sand it smooth. My next step will be to “draw” in the wood grain. Hopefully when stained it will be convincing enough. I thought about removing the piece of wood in the table top but I don’t have the skills to do so.

  I’ve got all day to work on it… hopefully it goes well.

• Stress, workouts, and the little things

  Date: 2009.06.04 | Category: Life as we know it | Response: 0

  Switching to night shift is always difficult and the events of this week haven’t made it any easier. I’ve found that it takes a good 4-5 days for me to get my internal clock adjusted to working an off shift. I need copious amounts of caffeine to make this work because I can’t stay busy enough to keep myself awake. I’ve tried to keep myself busy but there have been times when I caught myself dozing while standing up. Summer has arrived in the state of Washington and in the land of no air conditioning our house tends to get a little toasty during the day even if all of the windows are open. If it’s dark I can usually sleep but when its warm like this I don’t sleep quite as well.

  Jessica has had a rough week. Jeff, her brother in-law, was in the hospital because of kidney stone and a brand new diagnosis of diabetes (boo!), her uncle passed away earlier this week, and she has been running on empty all week long. She has been stressed (obviously) and taking everything in like this simply wears a person down. Stress feeds stress and I haven’t been my normal self all week.

  My normal stress reliever is a trip to the gym. The heat and the lack of energy due to the time shift has prevented me from getting in a decent workout. I feel like a weakling right now. Its extremely difficult to time to calorie intake so that I have some energy come workout time. When I work on dayshift I normally workout 4-6 hours after my last meal and 1-2 hours after my last snack. When I am working nights I haven’t had anything to eat in at least 9 hours. I feel like I am trying to win a race with nothing in the gas tank. I have tried eating immediately after waking but I hardly have enough time to digest. My only options are to suck it up or wake up in the middle of the night (or day) and eating breakfast. Can you imagine waking up at 2AM to eat a meal? I can’t and I really enjoy my six hours of sleep a night.

  Little things at work have been driving me crazy. Communication from my shift to the other shifts is a one way street. I try to send out as much information as possible and in return I receive nothing. Dayshift may do something and have some solid reasoning behind it but without communication I feel that they have lost their damned minds. Ten to fifteen times I night I ask myself what the hell were they thinking. Oh well – I’ve vowed to get in a good workout tomorrow and the weekend is fast approaching. Hopefully I can ignore the little things and relax – this isn’t the end of the world and I need to stop acting like it is. I really want to be able to work myself to exhaustion but finding enough work to stay busy is a difficult task. I’m writing this post instead of doing something because I want to be able to stretch out my one hour of scheduled work for this evening. Motivation is difficult when you are working by yourself. When you have no communication with other people it’s hard to gauge how much work you need to finish to be a contributing member. I’d much rather work with someone I despise than work alone – at least I’d have some competition.

• A Wild and Crazy Night

  Date: 2009.05.24 | Category: shenanigans | Response: 0

  OK so this all started when John and I decided to go to the Comedy Underground in Seattle. It’s a small intimate comedy club and it was awesome. We got tickets specifically to see Marcus, the runner up from last season’s Last Comic Standing show on NBC.

  We showed up early and got a few drinks. I was driving so I had a beer and a margarita before the show and water after that. John was drinking pretty heavily. We went to out table and it was awesome. I could have spit on the stage. I had never been to a comedy club so it was really cool for me. People started to file in and as I was looking around I noticed that two tables away was an old friend with whom things did not end well. It was a bit awkward. There was a table of four and all night it was hard for us all to not notice each other. I eventually calmed down and tried to enjoy myself. However, I did avoid the bathroom at all costs at the end of the night to avoid the party which was a bad decision considering I had lots of water. Marcus was really funny though and we got to talk to him about being on TV after the show. It was really cool. He wasn’t a fan of NBC and HATES Iliza Shlesinger (the winner of Last Comic Standing)

  Our waitress at the club had some amazing tattoo art and we were curious to see where she got it all done. Turns out her husband did them and has a tattoo parlor right down the block. So on our way back to the car we stopped in to check out his work. As we were looking at his portfolio this woman came into the shop. It was obvious that she was not what you would call normal. She was really thin, open sores and had lots of energy. She was most definitely a crack head. She spotted us looking at the book and came to join us. With every flip of page she got closer and closer until she was touching us both. I didn’t really know what to do and John was still a little drunk so he didn’t seem to care. I shot a look to a guy in the shop and he came over to talk. He asked her what he could do to help her and it seemed to drive her away. Then he looked at me jokingly and said “Were you the one who brought that Chicken head in here?? Billy, girl’s bringing chicken heads into the shop!!” It was funny but just weird!

  We get to the car and head towards Lakewood. My good friend Angel lives in Florida and was bringing her daughter up here to stay with Grandma for the summer. Their plane was getting in at 11:15 PM and they were meeting at the Denny’s by our house at about 12:00AM. We show up and give hugs and instantly go into updating each other on the small details of our lives. We were in the back and there was a glass divider in between us and the front room tables. Just to update you on how things work,  John was facing Angel who was against the glass so he was facing the glass divider. It’s glass so you can see through it. You may be looking at someone but maybe a paranoid person on the other side of the glass might be thinking you are looking at them.

  We are eating and laughing and having a good time when someone walks quickly up to our table. Now, this man is about 5’3″ with long greasy hair, a goatee, with baggy pants and a bright yellow Seattle Sonics tee shirt on. It takes us all a second to realize what’s going on. I think it went something like (ahem),” ARE YOU MAKING EYES AT ME MAN? ARE YOU A FUCKING FAG OR SOMETHING?! I CAN SEE YOU LOOKING AT ME WHILE I’M SITTING AT MY TABLE MAN. ARE YOU GAY? I DON’T LIKE FUCKING QUEERS MAN, I’M NO FAGOT. YOU WANT ME TO KICK YOUR ASS RIGHT NOW MAN? STOP FUCKING HITTING ON ME YOU FUCKING FAGOT!!!!”  All the while he is throwing some sort of gang sings at us. Our  waitress who couldn’t have been more than 19 (and who was probably 7 months pregnant) comes over out of nowhere with ” YOU NEED TO STEP AWAY FROM MY TABLE…NO, NO,NO YOU NEED TO LEAVE MY TABLE ALONE EITHER LEAVE THE TABLE OR LEAVE THE STORE. HMMM MMMMM GET AWAY FROM MY TABLE NOW BROTHA”. Ahhh there is nothing like living in the ghetto…..

  He finaly leaves us alone, gets his to go order and leaves the store. Everyone in the store is watching him to make sure he leaves. We all have our phones out ready to call the cops if he stays in the parking lot. He starts walking along and leaves. We just sat around for 20 minutes in awe of what just happened. Our waitress felt so bad. He had been drinking in the bar all night long and they told him to leave. Seems like he’s a regular. I told her it was ok and the next time we come in to the store John won’t act so gay. We eventaully just laughed it off and left. We went home it was about 2:00am and we both just crashed. It was the stangest night I think I’ve ever had but hell at least no one went to the hospital or jail!

  Johns note: I was confused during the entire altercation with the idiot – it takes a little while for me to get riled up as I’m an easy going guy. I think I just stared at him like he was an crazy person when he started yelling. I’m glad he didn’t do anything stupid because I might have done something stupid… and that would have been bad. Jessica thought that last night was a crazy night. Almost every night that I have been out has had some brand of craziness – I don’t think I’ve ever had an incident free evening…. ever. Rarely do I get yelled at for my homo tendancies…. I think it was because I was wearing a shirt with buttons and I had had a haircut in the past three years. I was also sitting with a table of women – that makes me a dead ringer for a homo. He was jealous as he rocked his Jesus-esque haircut while wearing a shirt without buttons. I guess I was far too fashion forward for him… buttons – they were buttons for crying out loud. Take heed everyone – burn your shirts with buttons now or you could get accused of making gay advances. (I’ve got nothing against the gays in the world but you should mix it up and wear t-shirts once in a while so that the rest of us don’t get grouped in with you. )

• Weekend Getaways

  Date: 2009.02.25 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 1

  So this past weekend John and I received our tax refunds. After budgeting some money in for our cars, we decided to splurge on ourselves. Friday night John and I decided that we were going to go snowboarding at Steven’s Pass. We threw together our stuff and ended up having some friends over for drinks. After a long evening of drinking we made it to bed late and got up early. After John drug me from the bed ( I was not feeling so well after drinking) and after I got out of the shower John suggested that we just stay the night near the pass. He already had a few places in mind so we packed over night bags and headed out.

  We arrived at Stevens about 10 AM and hit the slopes about 10:45. I know I’m getting more confident in my snowboarding skills when I get on the ski lift and don’t feel like vomiting all over everyone down below. The snow was a lot better here and the runs are a lot more forgiving than they were at Snoqualmie. After we went down my good old safe “daisy” run John suggested that we go onto the run that we tried last time. I didn’t remember doing any other runs last time we were there but I just went with it. As we  rode up and up the lift I started to think that this wasn’t right. This looked WAY more advanced than I would ever try. Turns out I was right and I thought it was an attempt my on life by John. He started to remember OH YEAH I did this run by myself last time……

  All you need to know is that I did make it down by myself and on my board. John was very very apologetic the rest of the day. We took a break and got some lunch then we went back out for about 2.5 hours of fun then we headed towards Leavenworth. We had managed to get a signal and made quick reservations at the Pension Anna. They didn’t have any good rooms available so we said the hell with and got the Red Feather Suite. It was actually located a mile away from the main lodge. It was amazing. It was this cute little cottage and it had a fire place, king size bad and a jet tub. I was in heaven. We went and walked around the town which was a lot of fun. We got a Bavarian pretzel and some good beer and found dinner at a little German restaurant. As we were walking through the shops I found the chocolate mecca. It was a small shop in a shop and the man’s wife and sister in law hand make these chocolates. He asked what my favorite kind of chocolate was my favorite so I told him dark so he handed me a piece of this hand made dark chocolate and I was done for. I have NEVER tasted a better chocolate in my life. So we bought an assorted box of nine chocolates. One of these chocolates John and I got for Leanne because it was made with GoldSchlager Liquor ( her fav to shoot) (she loved it btw) The shop was called Schocolat and I will go there every time I get near Leavenworth.

  We stopped off at the local Safeway so I could get a bottle of wine and John could get some beer. We made it back to the cute cottage with an amazing view and I cracked my bottle of wine, had a bath in the jet tub, and then to proceeded to fall asleep on the couch and cuddle up with John at 7:45 pm at night. I was tired

  All in all it was a really good weekend. We had some relaxing time and play time and we both enjoyed it immensely.

• Numbers

  Date: 2009.01.18 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 3

  663- The number of days it’s been since John and I started dating

  1 – The number of Carats of the perfect solitaire engagement ring John gave me

  545 – The number of days until we take the vow to spend the rest of our lives together

  Last night John decided that we should go to dinner at Salty’s ( which is my favorite) so he went ahead and made reservations. We got ready and had some time to kill so we went up early so we could go for a walk down Alki.  It was dark but you could see the reflection of the lights from the city and it was beautiful.  I turned around to see where John was and when I looked he was down on one knee.  He asked me if I could do him a favor and spend the rest of my life with him. Well, duh, I said yes. He then gave me my amazingly beautiful diamond solitaire and there was nothing I could say. I was speechless and well for me not having anything to say is a big deal. We then went in and had our dinner in shock. It was really a good surprise.

  This morning came picked a date July 17th, 2010. We have about a year and a half to get things ready. I’m sure we’ll keep you updated on the details as they come through 

  

  

• The Hap-Hap Happiest Christmas Since Bing Crosby Tapdanced with Danny F*ing Kay

  Date: 2008.12.27 | Category: family | Response: 0

  Well, it’s all over. The turkey is demolished and the wrapping paper is in shreds. All in all it went pretty well. On Christmas Eve, my grandparents aunts uncles cousin parents sister and bro in law all came over for Christmas dinner. I cooked my 26lb turkey and it was really yummy if I don’t say so myself. After dinner was eaten we had a small white elephant gift exchange which was really pretty fun. I ended up with a box of “gamble” chocolates ( which I re-gifted to my father) and John got a coffee set thing. There was also $10 in cash, a Sees Candies gift certificate, spam, coal, and scratch tickets galore. My 7 month pregnant cousin ended with a back massager and her boyfriend won the neck massager for her so she was really excited about that. It was a lot of fun and I loved being able to host Christmas in our house.

  About 9 everyone filtered out and headed home. John and I had a plan to open our Christmas presents from each other at 12:01am but that didn’t happen. We snuggled in the big mink blanket on the couch and started to watch White Christmas but got about 20 minutes in before we both passed out. We decided to just get up earlier and open them before going to my parents house. So about 4:30am we awoke. I was excited to see what I got. I got a very sweet card worth one good car cleaning, Seahawk’s gear, a fancy cork screw, planet earth on Blu-ray, a new blue tooth for my car, golf tees, golf balls and more goodies. He was excited to get 4 new shirts, a new MP3 player ( precisely the one he wanted), snowboarding socks and a coupon book. We also opened the presents from his parents and sister, which got us Wii games, tools, a new purse a wallet, REI gift card, Victoria’s Secret gift card, and more goodies. However, there was one present from each of us that the other couldn’t open until we were at my parent’s house.

  We loaded up the car and headed to Roy. We exchanged gift and I got very spoiled this year. In the big wood box from John I got a Coach purse. My sister also got one but it was from me. We also got a new microwave (with a browner), I gave John and Jeff NFL customized jerseys, and my sister and Jeff got me a set of brand new golf clubs. Leanne and Jeff made out pretty well because my mom and dad got then a new HDTV. It’s pretty awesome. After presents my dad made us all breakfast. It was fun. We had a good time.

  I love Christmas because I get really spoiled but mostly because I get to spoil other people. Like my parents when the 4 of us “kids” got my them a night’s stay, breakfast, and 2 massages at the Salish Lodge. They seemed pretty excited.

  Now the decorations are down and the Christmas music is faded and I get over my cold and prepare for work on Monday. I hope you all had a very Happy Christmas too!

  

  The Whole Fam

• It's almost like an interpretive dance

  Date: 2008.12.14 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 1

  So John and I saw this today and laughed the whole time! This is an amazing video and even though john and I loved it it’s sad to think that nothing like this would be seen on prime time TV today.

  But here it is for you to watch and enjoy.

  [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEhF-7suDsM&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f]

• Halloween

  Date: 2008.11.08 | Category: family, shenanigans | Response: 0

  So last weekend John and I had our first Halloween party. We had spent all week getting food and decorations ready. It actually turned out pretty cool. We had the new beer pong table, spooky treats, and witches brew. Leanne and Jeff were great and made 100 jello shots for the party. It was really fun ( what I could remember of it anyway) and it seemed that everyone else had a pretty good time too.

  Costumes were encouraged so I was really excited when everyone came dressed up. John and I decided to be zombies. We acquired our costumes from thrift stores and makeup from Wal-mart and they turned out really cool, if I do say so myself.

  Here are some pictures from the party and the rest you will find HERE.

  

  We eat Brains

  

  Cartman