"Who's 50?"

Aunt Becky, that's who! We made the voyage to the Bavarian Grill for some fun and, more importantly, beets! Those Bavarians use beets in like everything they make! I wish I liked beets more. According to WebMD, every part of the beet is good for you. But man...one day when I was a kid, I saw a plate of beets and thought it was J-ello. Needless to say, I was hugely disappointed (and grossed out) after taking a bite. But I ramble so...here are some pics to take the place of actually going to Bavaria (and saving you some $$$ in the process):

Leiderhosen!

I joked with my cousin that I was going to get mine out of storage for the big night. I think she knew I was kidding.

Steins!

Makes me want to start drinking beer after seeing all of these in the window. Fortunately, I soon remembered how much I hate beer and chose not to spend the $50 on a stein.

Spaten Munchen?

Huh? I Googled what that was and as it turns out...it's beer! Boy, did not see that coming.

The Mad Hatter!

I had to wear a similar hat on my 30th birthday...only it was black...geez, people acted like someone died or something.

We're the only species that celebrates birthdays. We're also the only species that doesn't put survival at the top of the list every time they wake up. We think about our job, our family, even our possessions but not, "Is this the day something eats me?" Us and maybe basset hounds. You ever watch them? They don't care about anything. They just lay there, content with whatever life automatically gives them. I think we take that for granted. But then again, how can we not? Who would eat us? The dinosaurs maybe. Last time I checked, Jurassic Park is still years away from becoming a reality.

One thing I've managed to learn in my 34+ years is that the human race is never content just to let things be. In 100 years we went from the Model A car which you had to handcrank to start it and no windows or trunk to the cars today which you don't even need keys for and you can't hear it even when it's running. We took the Walkman of the 1980's with it's huge buttons and was the size of a car battery and made the iPod Touch which is the size of a credit card and doesn't even have buttons. It is this driving force that will eventually eliminate cancer from ever being talked about again. We will reach this point, I assure you. I'm predicting it right now. We have drugs that can cut off the blood supply for brain tumours, rendering them non-existent. We have the CyberKnife, a laser instrument so precise it can actually cut cancerous tissue out of someone without touching anything else. One thing I'm dying to ask God someday is why cancer? It is a devastating illness that no one is immune to, and it puts families through so much heartache and financial havoc and takes family members away much too fast. Some manage to beat it, only to get it again and again. If God needs some people more then others in His kingdom sooner then others, why doesn't He just take them? To quote a repsectable newspaper's slogan, "Inquiring minds want to know!"

"Man Vs Food!"

This is insane!



A twelve pound burger? Last time I checked, no one could...or should...ingest twelve pounds of meat AT ONE TIME. But it sure is fun to watch them try! When I heard that there was going to be a show on Travel Channel where this guy goes from town to town attempting local eating challenges, well, I knew this was the show for me. His name is Adam Richman, and I never heard of him before this show surfaced. So far, I've seen him eat a 72-oz. steak in Amarillo, Texas successfully which, I'm kind of glad I got to see how hard it is to do that! I always bragged how I could eat it no problem, but when I saw them drunk on meat, bursting to the point of spontaneous combustion, I now have to re-think doing that. Maybe a 20 oz. steak would be enough?

Going to Aunt Becky's birthday party Saturday night! Some place called Bavarian Grill for a German dinner! Now this I didn't know...Bavaria and Germany are closely connected gastronomically speaking. Schnitzel, oven-roasted chicken, and some sort of pork beef thing. Gonna get my eat on then! Of course I have to go to work on a STAURDAY for FOUR HOURS to learn how to do another department's job. It's bad enough my department is understaffed, but now we have to help another department answer their questions. Plus, I have to be there for nine hours a day, but if everything isn't perfect, then we don't get an hour for lunch, we only get thirty minutes. Since you can't do anything in such a short time, I usually work through lunch. Hey, $22.37 isn't bad for overtime, but it would be nice to have that option. Maybe one day. We have our bonus party tomorrow (which should have been last month, but better late then never eh?). Too bad we don't get another check ha ha.

Adam seems to have found his calling in life right? All of us should be so lucky. I'm pretty sure my calling in life isn't explaining to people why we paid zippo on their $7,000 emergency room bill. I have all kinds of ideas for movies and TV shows in my head constantly. Would love to see them produced in my vision. Of course, I have to actually write them down first...I wonder if they will go to the grave with me...spooky!

"Say It Ain't So...."

I'm in shock...literally.


Alex Rodriguez, who was supposed to be the anti-steroid hero for our generation, admitted to cheating on the game he supposedly loves and now everything is ruined...for him...for the game...for me. This is going to turn everyone off the game, just you wait and see. I just wish they would make it legal to do whatever, then no one would care. But it tears you up over time, that's why they can't make it legal. Moving on...

Emmy and I went to her school's daddy-daughter dance last Friday. Just once I'd like a nice shot of us:


We had fun though. You ever dance with a kangaroo that likes to jump around and spin around? Yeah, that was our night. Afterwards we went to Braum's and had a treat. When we got home she made me this:


Isn't that good? She is that rare combination of left and right brained. I hope Zach picks up most of that from her.

Ever give someone the benefit of the doubt only to see them let you down? That's how a lot of people feel about A-Rod right now. We all believed him in 2007 when he said he would never do performance-enhancing drugs, and now here we are. Ah well. Can't win em all right?

"Ice Ice Baby..."

...and man was it cold! Here in Texas, our idea of cold weather is 60 and overcast, so when we see actual ice on things outside of our deep freezer, we, or at least I, take pictures!:


I like this shot because the icicles look like razorsharp teeth ready to shred less-suspecting cars to bits.


I actually took the lights down after the thaw. Only broke two of them. Turns out you can't just let them drop on the ground.


Is my registration out? By golly it sure is. Good thing Cari took care of that last night.


I couldn't use my new camcorder because I had left it in the trunk and when I turned it on it said "Cannot use, warming up..." Well isn't that something.

Called in sick Monday after the Super Bowl. Now I'll just tell you now it was not my intention to do that. I was vacuuming that afternoon and somehow a lot of dust got kicked up and I was breathing it in and didn't even know it. Doctor gave me a Xopenex inhaler so I didn't have to go get a prescription filled. Anyways...called in Monday and found some pictures of Emmy so I scanned em:





Ahh, memories...this was her in first grade. She sure has changed a lot from when she was like 3 or 4. But she's always been a fun kid. Lately she keeps asking me to tell stories of things Zach does, funny things that happen, etc. I try to accomidate her as much as I can, but I'm trying to instill her the comedy rules. Number one: A joke is only funny once. I'll come up with more as time permits.