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So last weekend, the family and I worked the Lemonade Booth at St. Dominic’s Festival. According to Shantel, we have been doing this for 15 years. Personally I think we have been doing it longer than that, but who am I to argue with my older sister.

In years past, I have blogged about this family tradition. For those that are new, here is the run down. Every year my parents, my sister and I (and our significant others if we have any at the time) work the festival. We sell Lemonade at a dollar a glass. Since the supplies, booth sponsorship, and workers are donate by our family the church makes pure profit on the sales. We even pay for what we drink. No one gets free Lemonade at the festival (although Dad will probably buy you one if you are a Police Officer working the festival or a member of the church Clergy). Our previous record for sales was 1900ish for a 19 hour weekend. This year we sold 2007 for the same 19 hour weekend.

It was a very busy and very hectic weekend. My body hurt each night by the time I reached closing. I know Shantel’s back had to be bothering her something fierce, and mom and dad were probably feeling the pain as well. My brother-in-law Matt got off the easiest, only having to work around half of the festival, but he wasn’t any slouch while he was there helping us. Tempers flared, words were spoken, but in the end we stuck together and tackled it like the well oiled machine that our family is. I have to say I was proudest of my niece Ayla who busted her butt to help out despite her young age. And she did very well to boot. I ran into some old friends from high school I hadn’t seen in years. My friend and coworker, Mrblong, even visited the festival and according to him had a good time.

During the start of the final day of the festival, my parents asked point blank if I thought we should do the festival next year. I didn’t have an answer for them at the time, and told them we should wait to see how the day plays out. When my sister found out about this she asked me, “You told them no. Right?”

Before the festival started on the last day, the church does a quick (even by Catholic standards) mass for all the festival workers under the food tent. Most who know me well know that while I generally don’t talk a great deal about religion to others, I am a fairly religious person. I just tend to flow outside of organized religion. The homily the priest delivered was about spreading God’s word. He mused that a converstation between God and Jesus after the resurrection would have gone something like this:

G: So who did you put in charge of spreading my word on Earth?
J: My friends.
G: The same ones that denied you, betrayed you, and ran away from you scared?
J: Yes.
G: So what’s your backup plan?
J: If they don’t do it, it doesn’t get done.

I thought about these words the rest of the day. Truth be told, I have been thinking about them all this week.

When we stop doing the festival, who will do it? I’m sure that the church could find people to run the both, but would they really have the best interests of the church in mind, or would they spend more time socializing and treating the festival like an obligation that they have to do because they have kids in Catholic School? Would they just decided to delete the booth from the festival line up, and if they did how long before it was just forgotten?

It would be nice to do other things on Memorial Day weekend, like going to MARCON, but I know I would miss one of the few activities we still do together as a family. I would miss the people we run into every year at the festival. I would miss the Lemonade.

So I have been waiting to update to find out the final verdict on my uncle. After extensive surgery attempts to save it, the doctors informed him that they will have to amputate his leg above the knee. The news sucks, but I am thankful that he is otherwise healthy.

I spoke with him on the phone tonight, and he was in good spirits. He even felt good enough to make several off color jokes about his leg. He has always been some what of a prankster.

Bless me father for I have lived. Its been a very long time since my last real blog session.

Obviously a lot has been going on in my life, which is why I haven’t been blogging. Like John, I’ve spent most of my free time doing some soul searching and trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, and obviously I’m not just talking about my professional career here.

For about the past year, I was officially whoring myself out on the internet. I joined eHarmony and went on dates with more than just few women. They were either insane, flighty, or just plain had nothing in common with me (matched on 29 areas of compatibility my ass). I finally got so fed up with dating that I canceled the service. I’m not closed to the idea, but I’m not actively looking for it anymore.

I also made another realization. I’m fast approaching an age where I will probably not want to have kids due to being the old parent who can’t keep up and enjoy it. It really sucks too because I have always wanted to have kids of my own. And its not that as a man I am physically in capable of impregnating a woman till the day I die. The problem is that when I do remarry, I prefer it be someone close to my age. That currently means I’m looking for someone between 25 to 35, the tail end of a woman’s biological clock. I guess I really shouldn’t worry about it so much, it always turns out for the best in the end.

On to more fun news.

Misty got her wisdom teeth taken out, and I helped her out the day of the surgery. Surprisingly she didn’t come out with much in the way of side effects (like the dry socket I got). This is prompted me to tell her that, “I hate you”, and, “I’m going to start calling you Wolverine since you heal as fast as he does.”

I got my car back from the shop. They had it done just under two weeks, and I have to say I was quite impressed with the work.

Memorial Day Weekend saw the annual family tradition of selling Lemonade at the St Dominic’s festival. The weather was decent, so we were extremely busy. We sold 1517 glasses over the festival (I didn’t keep track of days this year since I was exhausted each night). The most memorable point for me, was Sunday when Anthony and Ayla showed up to play at the festival. They ended up working for about an hour, Ayla helping Shantel on the front end of the stand serving customers and Anthony helping out in back squeezing and mixing glasses. It looks like in a few more years they will be helping us as festival workers.

Katy was kind enough to lend me her SUV, so I could go buy my new TV. I picked up a Samsung 40″ LCD with Full 1080 at 60Hz. It has 3 HDMI ports, 3 RCA ports, 2 Component ports, one 15-pin VGA port, and a partridge in a pear tree. I also picked up a Panasonic Home Theater in a Box with a 5 Disc upscaling DVD player. The mot coveted edition, was the PS3 and a copy of Rockband. For the record, the drums are hard, even on easy.

After getting disgusted with myself in the mirror, I preordered a copy of Wii Fit. I was quite depressed at my first weigh in, but have been devoting anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour each day to exercise with it. While it does make exercising interesting and sometimes fun (depending on the activity), do not be fooled into thinking this is just a game. It really does make me sweat and leaves my muscles sore after a workout. I’ve been using the Fit for about 11 days and I’ve dropped 13 pounds. Here is hoping I can stick with it.

On a final note, a coworker lent me a copy of The Official Rock Paper Scissors Strategy Guide. While the book is mainly a satire, it surprisingly pointed out some interesting strategies regarding the game. Its also showed me there is an actual World RPS Society.

Peace Out.

I love my parents. Really, I do, but…they are not well versed when it comes to consumer electronics.

So I’m sitting in my apartment when I hear the song “Sunrise, Sunset” from “Fiddler on the Roof” coming fro my phone. This is odd for several reasons. First, its the custom ring tone I have set for my dad (Fiddler is his favorite musical). Second, I can tell by the icon on my cell phone he is calling me from his cell phone, which he never uses.

So I answer the phone and get passed back and forth between mom and dad shopping for a new TV at Best Buy. Why are they shopping for a new TV? I honestly couldn’t tell you why. Its not like there is anything wrong with their current TV. Go fig.

Anyway the highlights from the 30 minute converstation include:

Mom: What’s wrong with Westinghouse?

Me: They aren’t known for making TVs or LCDs.


Dad: What’s this 8 M S response time mean?

Me: 8 miliseconds. Basically the lower the better.

Dad: So which one should we get?

Me: Find the one that looks good to your eyes and buy that one.

I made sure to warn by brother-in-law to be expecting a call about setting up an HDTV. Better him than me.

New Year’s Resolutions, just about everyone makes them, and just about everyone breaks them within the month. So why bother talking about it.

In January of 2006, I made the following post to my old blog

For the past few years I have never made a New Years resolution. This is because I made a New Years resolution to never make another New Years resolution again. Till now it was the only resolution I ever stuck with. This year my resolution is to get on with my life. Happy New Year to all, and best of luck in the year to come.

Since that day my resolution for that past few years is to get on with my life and enjoy it to the fullest. Ok so I’ve added the last part since then, so sue me ;P.

Looking back 2007 has been a great year for me and those friends I hold dear. I changed jobs twice and am now making double what I did at the begining of last year. In May I took a big step to following “getting on with my life”. I even started dating again. (Try not to die of shock ;P) I’m still searching for the right person, but to be honest I’m not going to rush things. Its kind of funny how things always seem to work out.

Anyway enough about the past lest I forget rule 58. May the New Year bring you joy a prosperity, and may the good Lord watch over you on any dark roads you must travel.

From left to right: Me, Matt, Shantel, Grandpa, Dad, Mom, Aunt Cindi, and Uncle Greg.

The thanksgiving holiday was fun a very relaxing. I spent time with family, and gorged myself silly. I also got in a lot of over due WoW play time. W007!

After I got back on Sunday, I hit the movies with Mraz, Katy, and John. We went to see Disney’s “Enchanted”, a reverse 10th Kingdom. Funny how all of these stories seem to take place in New York. Anyway the movie was kind of cute. It definitely did a good job of making me want to vomit in the first 15 minutes, but after that a reality based romantic comedy set in. I highly recommend seeing it at least once.

After the movie we ended up at Stake N Shake witnessing a manager and waitress trading good natured witty jabs for our amusement. All in all a good time.

Well back to work, let me hide the joy.

O-H!

Sorry I get excited when the Buckeyes beat Michigan.

So, I’ve been a bit busy lately. Needless to say, I haven’t had time to blog about it. A lot of cool things are happening for me now.

The client I was working for offered me a ridiculous amount of money to come work for them. I start officially December 3rd.

My Grandma and the girls have an annual ritual to go to Jeffersonville and shop. This year I tagged along (originally it was only supposed to be for lunch, but I ended up staying the whole time because I needed some new clothes). I ended up getting some really good deals on new clothes and gym shoes.

I have made several trips to a new favorite hang out called Momo’s. Every trip I have taken there has been a blast.

Ray is moving Cuts Off High, to a larger location down the street. He has a new business partner, and is going to be doing booth rentals. Congrats to him.

Wayne and Brie came up to go to a munch with Fightclub TNG. The group seemed really nice, so I think we are all going to look at becoming members. Wayne also helped me with a home improvement project. He is definitely the master handy man.

I got a new gaming laptop that roxorz! It is made by ASUS. Frame rates in my games went up about 6 fold.

All and all things are going great.

Bless me father for I have lived. Its been 13 days since my last blog session.

So I haven’t felt like blogging in a while, sue me. Anyway, here is the run down of things that have happened.

• Friday October 12th -I drove down to Southpoint, Ohio (the definition of a one horse town) for Andy and Jenny’s rehearsal dinner. I meet up with the immediate family at the hotel (Shantel, Mom, Anthony, and Ayla) and we check in. Then it dons on me that I need to pick up my Tux. Enter the following conversation:

Me: Shit I don’t know how to get there.

Shantel: You got the address?

Me: Yes.

Shantel: You want to borrow the bitch?

Me: Mmmmm….Yeah, give me the bitch.

The bitch we are referring to is her Garmin Nuvi portable GPS unit. The nickname was given by my mother who came up with the name the first time she was in the car listening to it give us directions. “The bitch told us to turn left.” I stopped trying to explain the weird quirks of my family long ago.

Anyway I get to the Tux place in back only to have to round everyone up to head over to the church. Anthony and I were in the wedding party, so we had the privledge/curse of having to put up with the most psycho wedding cordinator I have ever met. I knew it was bad when I pulled Andy’s dad, Charlie, aside and told him if he didn’t shut her up I was going to shoot her. The funny thing is Charlie is a retired State Trooper, and offered to help me take her down. Kevin, the best man and adopted son of Charlie and Gwen, is a current State Trooper and he asked to join in on the fun. Needless to say we all (no I didn’t really shoot her) made it out alive and headed over to dinner.

Texas Roadhouse on a Friday night in a small town that has next to no fine dinning establishments was packed. Add a 46 person rehearsal dinner, and you have the recipe for a blocked entrance. Its kind of funny to realize that you are standing next to a Fire Fighter (my Uncle Pat, he’s a Fire Fighter in Northern Kentucky and DJs on his free weekends for fun/money) in an entrance packed so much with people that it has to be breaking fire code. They finnaly seated us, and dinner went off more or less without a hitch.

We retried back to the hotel room where I introduced Anthony to WoW. Shantel is going to kill me for corupting her son.

• Saturday October 13th – Woke up, had breakfast, and then got suckered into to going to Walmart. At the end of the trip, my cart was full of household stuff for the new apartment thanks to mom.

We got back tot he hotel and started getting ready for the wedding. As I was putting my black vest on over my ivory shirt, I turned to look in the mirror and realized I could Cosplay as Han Solo in this outfit. After a good laugh, I finished getting ready, grabbed Anthony, and headed over to the church. The wedding and the pictures were a blur (though we did get Anthony, Michigan fan he is (I know, how can he go against his uncle/godfather like that), to help us do the O-H-I-O cheer for a picture.

We arrived at the reception, ate, drank, and were marry. There was much drinking, shot buying, cigar smoking, and general debauchery that goes on at family events. The high point of the night was the playing of a song that has become a family tradition for weddings and such, “Family Tradition” by Hank Williams Jr. During my cousin Lisa’s weddin, this tradition got slightly perverted into a drinking binge (it was BYOB and grandpa had a full 1L bottle Captain Morgans at the start of the song). This reception did not stray from that tradition.

Why do you drink?

To get drunk!

Why do you role smokes?

To get high!

Why must you live out the songs that you wrote?

To get laid!

The bottle made it around the circle one and quarter times, and was empty just as the song ended. Grandpa would later remark that the family seemed to have a few extra “additions” in the circle. Thats what happens when you break out free booze. It was a good time for all and I hope Andy and Jenny enjoyed themselves.

• Sunday October 14th – Got up and said my good byes. Drove back home and crashed. Got up and went out to dinner with Nate and Mraz. Afterwards we headed back to Mraz’s place to watch Avatar.
• Monday October 15th – First day of the insane work week from hell. Unfortunately I can’t blog about the fun juicy gossip stuff that goes on at work (either at the client site or HQ), so you’ll just have to take my word on it. Got home that night and had Mraz drive me to meet my parents at the Bob Evans in Jeffersonville (so I could get a one way moving truck the next day). He thought it was kind of humorous that we all ordered breakfast while he ordered dinner. Go fig.
• Tuesday October 16th -The wettest moving day ever. Wayne and I got drenched loading the stuff at my parents condo. I fought with an uncooperative mirror on the truck on the trip up. Unloading was a little easier with Mraz and my dad helping us at the destination. Thankfully mom took the time to unpack the kitchen for me while we setup the bedroom furniture. Wayne and I had finding the place to return the truck. Eventually everyone left and I turned in for the night.
• Wednesday October 17th – More work? Get home and find out Katy has twisted her ankle. I went and bought her a couple of huge bags of peas to ice it down. John met me at her place. I found out later they had and interesting adventure at the hospital. Read what he said and then read what she said. Its good for a laugh. I retired back to the house to meet up with an old friend. After that it was bed time.
• Thursday October 18th – Is it Friday yet?
• Friday October 19th – TGIF! Got home from work and headed over to Mraz’s place. Greg, the drunk Ukrainian, was in town for a visit. We hit up Fazolis for dinner, and then played WoW.
• Saturday October 20th – Mraz talked us into buying Team Fortress 2. I highly recommend you check out the videos for the Heavy, Solider, Engineer, and Demoman. They are hysterical, even if you don’t like video games. After that we hit up the Movie Tavern for 30 Days of Night and the fastest service I’ve ever received at the place to date. Seriously, I ordered a salad with my meal, and it was at my seat within 60 seconds of ordering it. It literally beat my drink order to the table. Now that is service.
• Sunday October 21st – More gaming and Anime viewing at Mraz’s place. So I pretty much blew any hope of getting chores done over the weekend, but I had a good time, so who cares.
• Monday October 22nd – Back to work. Someone shoot me now.
• Tuesday October 23rd- A productive day at work. A weird night. I couldn’t shake something that had started to bother me. A feeling that seems to creep up around this time of year. I’ll learn to deal with it one of these days. Katy listen to me ramble about it for a bit. Thanks! I also setup dd-wrt on my router at home. I love having the power of a business class cisco router for only $50.
• Wednesday October 24th – Another productive day at work. I also found out my boss is moving on to a new company. Good for him, he needs this kind of change in his life right now, and he deserves it. Of course that means work is going to be even more fun for me and my co-worker. I think we’ll live.

So I’ve finished this long winded post and I’m looking at a pile of boxes that I still haven’t bothered to unpack. I hate moving.