My Take on the Olympis...and Other Things

Everyone knows the Vancouver Olympics wrapped up on Sunday. Let me just say that they definitely saved the best event for last. The gold medal game of the men's hockey tournament was definitely the best part of these games. It was exciting and intense. It also didn't hurt that it was US vs Canada. It was quite obvious that these two teams had a not quite so friendly rivalry going on. The game was hyped by the network and it didn't fail to deliver. Canada wasn't the only winner of that game. The world discovered that the US is a force to be reckoned with in hockey. Hockey itself was, probably, the biggest winner. I have a feeling that there are quite a few more hockey fans in North America now and it wouldn't surprise me if there is a league wide attendance rise across the NHL.

Though there were a lot of positive aspects to this years Olympics, the most glaring blemish, the death of a Georgian luger aside, is the reaction of the Russian government to their country's "abysmal" showing at these games. The Russian president and prime minister even went as far as to call the efforts of the Russian athletes embarrassing and calling for the firing of certain Russian athletic officials. If I recall correctly, it was back in the cold war days that the Soviets viewed their showing at the Olympics as a direct reflection of their political and military standing in the world. It's well known that Putin is old school KGB and that Medvedev is pretty much his lackey, but I thought the Russians had moved past all that. I would think that both Putin and Medvedev would have more important things to worry about rather than how many medals Russian athletes win at the Olympics. The world has moved on boys, it's time you did too.

Time to jump off the ol' soap box give a review of my weekend. I started coming down with a sore throat on Wednesday and by Friday I had a nasty little cold. I was on call all weekend and though we only got called in four times, three of them were late at night. As the amount of sleep each night shrank my cold got worse and eventually developed into a full blown upper respiratory infection. I got so little sleep last night from all the coughing that I decided to stay home from work today and go to the doctor. After some antibiotic, cough syrup with codeine and some sinus meds I'm finally starting to feel a little better. Hopefully, after a good night's sleep I'll be ready to get back to work.

I'm Baaaaaack! (Again)

Due to popular demand (read Chris' demand) I have decided it's not a bad idea to start blogging again. I do have quite a bit to share, I've just been too lazy to take the time to share it.

Let's start with last weekend: Saturday was a great day. The rain came down pretty good most of the day and we really enjoyed it. Chris went in to school for a couple of hours in the morning, so I decided to take Andy out and run some errands. We went up to a farmer's market to buy some honey only to find that most everybody had already packed up due to the rain. Wimps!

Since we had time I decided we should stop at a local Asian market I had heard about. Lee Lee Market is an awesome place. I've never seen such a diverse selection of foods. There were things in the produce section I'd never heard of before, let alone seen. There was Indian eggplant, bitter melon and even tamarind. The fresh seafood section has a huge a selection of fish and shellfish, all fresh and mostly intact. The meat counter has a wide variety of fresh meats including cuts I've never seen in a supermarket. There was boneless duck and chicken feet, three types of tripe, brains and even coagulated pig's blood. Mm mm good! Every aisle was dedicated to a different region of the world. There was an aisle just for Indian, one for Thai, one for Japanese, one for Chinese, one for Indonesian, and even one for African. I was absolutely in awe. And the prices were very very reasonable compared to the supermarket. I will definitely be going back for certain hard to find items.

After Lee Lee's I stopped at McDonald's and got Andy and Chris some lunch. Then it was nap time...for all three of us. I can't remember the last time we all napped at the same time. It was wonderful. After the nap it was a relaxing evening at home.

Sunday: Sunday morning started with Chris and I doing some cleaning. I handled the dishes while she took on the project of cleaning out and rearranging the pantry. We threw out a lot of expired stuff and made a lot of room. After that we packed up Andy and headed out to Famous Dave's for a great BBQ lunch. After lunch it was a quick run to Trader Joe's and then home.

All in all, a very productive and relaxing weekend.

Monday and yesterday mornings I spent doing EKG's on the Cleveland Indian's major league players as part of their annual physicals. We had a good time and it was cool to get to meet some of the players we watch on TV.

That's about it for my first post back. I look forward to having some more interesting things to share in the near future.

I'm a Loser

That's right. I admit it. I'm a loser. You all may not know it, but I began Weight Watchers last Sunday. So far It's been pretty easy. The hardest part has been trying to eat enough food. For those of you not familiar with the Weight Watchers program, every food is given a point value based on it's calories, fat and fiber content. For example, 1 cup of 1% milk has a value of 2 points. Each person is allowed to consume a certain number of points based on their weight, age, sex. I am allowed a total of 44 pts. per day. Believe it or not, that's actually a lot of food. I eat a decent breakfast, a moderate lunch and even a small snack and at dinner time I still find myself needing anywhere from 17 to 22 pts. For those of you wondering, it is important to eat all of your points for the day.

I chose to use Weight Watchers on-line instead of attending meetings. It's easier to consistently log points on the computer than it is to carry around a food journal and write everything in. With my schedule it's also easier not to have to commit to attending a meeting once a week.

Now to the good part. One week down and I've lost 9 lbs. I'm almost a third of the way to my starting weight loss goal of thirty pounds. Yeah me!

Counting Sheep has Never Been so Good

On Saturday we had a new bed delivered. We upgraded from a queen to a king and got a good number of the bells and whistles with it. I have to say the I have slept better the last three nights than I have for the last three years. What a difference a good mattress makes.

The only project I took on was installing a new car seat in my car. Anybody who says they are easy to install can bite me. It took me an hour to get the damn thing put in properly. Lucky for me I get to put one in my wife's car tomorrow. Yeah?

Last night we went out for chinese food with the in-laws. We went to a fairly new restaurant near their house and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food. For those of you who haven't heard, it's somewhat difficult to find good quality ethnic food in the Phoenix area. Except, that is, for mexican. The sweat and sour chicken was very good and the hot and sour soup was some of the best I've ever had. All in all, I give the meal an A-.

Right now I'm preparing to settle in for the evening and then enjoy my day off tomorrow. That's all for now.

I'm Baaaaack.

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. A full two months. Honestly, being new to blogging I didn't feel I had much worth sharing and when I did finally have something I got busy and didn't have a chance to write.

So, without further ado, here is my attempt to catch up.

April 16-20: My buddies from California came out to play some golf and go to the NASCAR race. We played golf and did a lot of drinking. I mean a lot of drinking. We had a great time and I'm looking forward to them coming out again for next April's race.

May 10: My wife's first Mother's Day. I wanted to do something special for her first Mother's Day, so I invited her parents and my grandparents over for brunch. I made baked blueberry french toast; a fritatta with bacon, onion, mushroom and cheese; citrus salad with orange, grapefruit and mint dressed with Cointreau, champagne and honey; and a homemade pineapple upside down cake. The food was great, if I do say so myself. It was also great to have most of the family together to celebrate.

Memorial Day weekend: The three of us drove to Anaheim and spent the weekend with my parents and my wife's brother and his family. On Saturday we had lunch with Eric, Kari and the kids and on Saturday evening we had dinner and a nice visit with our friends Michelle and Eddie. Sunday morning C went to tea with her friend Melanie and Kari. That afternoon I went over to a friend's house to watch the Angel game. Sunday evening my grandma came over to the house and my mom made her mock lasagna and salad and we all had a nice dinner together to celebrate all the May birthdays. My grandma's was the 7th, my dad's was the 21st and C's was on the 25th. That Monday we drove home and my dad hitched a ride with us.

May 29: My dad and I went to the Diamondbacks game. Our seats were on the second level out even with the left field foul pole. C and I chose those seats because we'd be taking the baby to the games with us and she didn't want to have to worry about foul balls coming our way. Not a bad decision, really. Well guess what? That night I got my first regular season foul ball. Yes I'm 37 years old, but I was still excited. It was especially cool because I was there with my dad. The first thing out of his mouth was "Andy's first foul ball!" My response was "Hell with that! My first foul ball!"

May 31: My dad finished packing up my grandparents for their move to Baltimore. He drove with them and they arrived on June 3. We are disappointed to see them go, but we are very happy that they got to spend some time with Andy. We know they really enjoy him.

I think that about does it. You're all caught up and I promise it won't be nearly as long between posts.

Poor Me

The first official game of the 2009 MLB season is tomorrow. Most teams, however, start play on Monday. The Diamondbacks play at 12:40, right in the middle of the work day and the Angels play in Anaheim that night. Due to poor planning on my part and some circumstances beyond my control this will be the first time in many, many years that I won't be attending an opening day game. I have to say that I'm more than a little disappointed. Oh well, I guess I'll have to settle for watching the Angels game on TV. Go Halos!

The Bacon Explosion!

A few weeks ago a buddy of mine found a recipe on the internet for something called the "Bacon Explosion." Being lovers of all things bacon we decided that we would make one for fantasy baseball draft day. That day was yesterday.

The "Bacon Explosion" has only four ingredients: 2 lbs of bacon, 2 lbs of italian sausage, bbq seasoning and bbq sauce. You cook the first pound of bacon and crumble it. You make a nice tight lattice weave with the second pound of uncooked bacon. Sprinkle seasoning on the weave. Spread all the sausage over the weave. Spread the cooked bacon over the sausage. Sprinkle more seasoning and drizzle on some sauce. Roll the sausage tightly to the end of the weave and seal the seam and sides. Then roll the sausage up in the weave. Sprinkle liberally with seasoning. Finally, smoke the loaf for about 2.5 hours. Slather in sauce and serve.

Let me tell you, that monster was better than advertised. With four fat guys in the house it didn't stand a chance. I chose to serve it with tater tots, but we would have been happy just with the meat. It was AWESOME!

When my wife found out what I was making she said she wanted all of the guys to leave their signed medical waivers and emergency contact numbers at the door. She also suggested serving a side of Lipitor with it.

A few friends of mine are coming out for the NASCAR race in a couple of weeks and the Explosion will definitely be on the menu.

Behold: the final product!