Life is Jubilant

Hello Everyone.

I feel as though I have been a little distracted as of late. I have excuses, but they are just that: excuses. So sorry if at any point in the past month or so you have loaded this page an been disappointed or frustrated by a lack of post. Obviously you are putting forth full effort in this relationship, and I have been failing. So my goal is to get back on the horse, to stick to this. We can make it...

Ok, now that you all feel like a neglected girlfriend, on to the good stuff.

So last week was just trouble. Lots of unexpected work and stressful environments. But that is over, and last weekend occurred; which was awesome! I didn't really have any work to carry over in to the weekend, so I was able to just simply have fun.

The weekend definitely started Friday at about 2. About this time, there were a few things that I wanted to do:
1 - Play Carcassone
2 - Fulfill a craving for french fries
3 - Hang out with cool people

So here is the story of how that was fulfilled. First up was a outing to The Church Brew works with Gwyn and Tracey. First let me thank Grandpa Bob for the wonderful Christmas gift! You were certainly thought of and appreciated! Grandpa got me a few gift certificates to a number of fine Pittsburgh establishments, The Church Brew Works was one of them.Surprisingly for a Friday night we were able to get a table right away, right next to the door... so it was cold, but we managed. The fare included some untraditional pierogies filled with Jalapenos, Chorizo, Cheddar and covered in a beer cheese sauce. A fair attempt at pieracos... but not nearly as good. To satisfy my french fry craving I had to go with the Pittsburgh Salad. For those of you who are still new to this whole PGH way of dining, french fries are put on everything, really everything... I am going to try a french fry pizza someday at Maximum Flavor. Not that I was really surprised by it, but it was really good. I would certainly get it again. Tracey and Gwyn are always amusing to hang out with, interesting conversation and lots of laughing. During dinner, plans for Saturday were hatched...

So bright and early, well for the rest of the group at 11 AM, a contingent of us headed up the sledding hill for another round of epic Flagstaff sledding. Sam was also able to join our party. Again, it was great. And again in a four person group sledding effort, the sled train hit the jump that was still there from two weekend before. This time we hit it full speed. And we flew. No one got seriously hurt... don't worry. At precisely the wrong time (as we were heading to the car) I figured out that the walking path from the top of the hill, running down it, parallel to where we were just sledding, was super icy. In my simple plastic sled, this path was like a luge course. I was flying down it! Next time....  

At this point to party lost a member, Tracey was babysitting that evening, and had to leave us. Seeing as the rest of us were all in the same boat in terms of obligations, and we just went sledding, the obvious next step was to head over to Panera for soup! After soup I was able to get Sam and Gwyn excited about Carcassone, and taught them how to play. We have two new fans. Chelsea and Caleb, I will try to get them up to your level by the time you get here so we can have a good 5 person play. There, got #2 crossed off the list, it was great!

Saturday night, there was a benefit dinner for an upcoming Jubilee Conference at the church. I was told that I had to dress business casual, or 'after 5' attire. All that means to me is time to break out the suspenders.

The last time I wore those shoes was inside of the LM building.

Yep. We are that awesome. It took a lot to get this picture out...

 The dinner was great, I sat at an awesome table. From Bart and I making plans to get bow ties and Will (who was wearing one 'I am from the south, it is not a matter of "Do I have a bow tie" it is more a matter of "What color one should I wear..." ') to Gwyn and her mother trying to figure out if the sour cream and butter were ice cream or not, it was a great evening. After dinner there was a little entertainment, two A Cappella groups from Chatham and CMU, it was a great throw back to Big Bing Theory. I guess there was an interpretive dance that I missed... I was in the bathroom... it was uncomfortable apparently.

After dinner, there was a little Birthday get-together for Matt. He had previously moved away from Pittsburgh, but came back for the weekend. It was great to see him and get to hang out with quite a few people that I have met over the past year. I actually felt like I knew people... it was a little scary... but it also fulfilled #3, not that hanging out with Gwyn and Sam all day was not qualifying enough.

Sunday was a good day, with the exception of one thing: I needed cereal. It was one of the only things that I really needed. So I got some Raisin Bran at Giant Eagle. It was great. I was feeling good about it. When I got home, I put the box up above the cabinet next to my dwindling box of fruit loops. Just as I let go, the box disappeared. I didn't know this, but the cupboard is about 4 inches away from the wall. On the side, there is a piece of trim that covers it, so it is not noticeable. However, on the top, there is nothing covering this chasm. So my Raisin Bran is still at the bottom of the pit. There is no way to get in there without moving the refrigerator, un mounting the cupboard, moving it (which will require a full emptying of all of the food...). It was so sad. I stood there for at least a minute trying to figure it out, and what this loss meant to my life.

Anyway... I was able to make it to the store this morning at picked up some Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Raisin Bran might just enter the unwanted category... with grape nuts...

Man... I have so much to tell you! So much happened in the past few days!

Yesterday there was a convening of the Scary Movie club. Skanda, Gwyn and myself went to go see 'The Rite.' Interesting movie. I liked it. I would imagine that a lot of people might not. Very creepy.

Anyway. If you made it this far, I would give you a high five for reading all of that. I hope it is somewhat interesting.

Coming up this week:
Super Bowl Preparations (don't worry Auntie Margaret! A Steelers post is forthcoming)
Senior High Youth Retrete
YadGrad Movie Discussion: The Invention of Lying.