Ahh, Christmas..

This was such a nice Christmas.. just really relaxing and nice. After working a half-day Christmas eve, i saw a movie with the Diesel and his friend Preston, then chilled a bit and then hit dinner and did presents until 1130 or so. All good times- except Walk Hard is really not worth seeing in the theater.

Christmas day was so laid back - we got up late, went to Bonnie's, had a killer brunch, watched the Ash-man open loads of presents, then got a nap in and headed down to Steilacomb to Bliss-man's aunt & uncle's. There we had a real big dinner, a lot of fun conversation, and I got to teach Ash how to walk up and down these 2 stairs they had going into their front room:-) Even the car ride home was nice - we listened to Akwid (mexican rap), I moaned Ash's signature moan with him (uu-eee-aauuhh). Now Jenny and I are watching Three Sheets: Mexico. If you have Comcast HD, go to 664 and set a recording for this show - the host is soooooo funny and it's essentially a show about alcohol:-o

Merry Christmas, y'all!

thi san dthat

so last week was the stomach flu and i lost like 8 pounds, although it was basically all dehydration:-\ when i mentioned it to him, wilson had asked me if i had been jogging... yeah, i kinda wish. it'd be good to hit the gym again - it's just been so friggin freezing and life's been weird lately with jenny in paris and then getting totally ill. hoping things will settle down and i can start getting into a routine. kiersten at work did ask me to come to the "sculpting" workout class thursday at noon at rain and a couple of the other peeps from accounting go to that too so maybe i'll throw on my legwarmers and spandex and rock that:-p

tonight we went over to the buszes' house and did a big appetizer dinner thing then sang christmas carols and ate dessert! yumyumyum. except this means more reason to hit the gym again.

getting it right(er)

so, after having fumbled my way through a couple of car purchases in the 6 years we've been married, jenny and i walked through this one as a unit:-) this time, things ended up with her being happy and us driving a vehicle that pleases *both* of us!

it's funny how we often fake everything being OK and "all good" when really we're in constant need of change and improvement... this year, i'm so very thankful for jenny and her love and understanding in moving along in our marriage together. things haven't been cake-walk-city but, with God's help, they're getting better. let's eat some turkey.

saturday lull

first things first.. my b-i-l showed me this cool site called animoto.com where it's quick and easy to upload your photos and music and create a mini-film of your pics. here's a little one i made yesterday of jenny & me:

http://animoto.com/play/c25c03ff2d7cb1b7d0d0793a0b79391b

yesterday was a big day of laundry, college football, and getting my tattoo!

i've been wanting and considering for a while now getting a lower-case "j" on my forearm (j for jenny) and finally just decided to put it in motion. it's typewriter font - thus explaining the little specks and whatnot around it:)

i went to a parlor called 7deuce here locally and i think they did a great job! they were especially patient with me through all my questions before, leading up to, and during.

i also got to chill with the strands for a couple hours and we took bella down to lake meridian -i had no idea there was this cool park there- and they fed the ducks some bread while i walked bella around a lil bit. i don't care that she pisses when i get to their house- i'm still her uncle. plus, until i have a dog of my own, i live that part of me out vicariously through them:)

last night was birthday burger night for the jennstress so we met up at the des moines red robin (or the "communist bird" as jep refers to them) after her shift at the hospital and enjoyed some yumyum. i often wonder what people think when i meet jenny somewhere and she's still in her scrubs... i guess probably the same thing i'd think if i saw someone in scrubs: 'hey, there's a nurse'.

REVIEW time for that Red Robin!!

FOOD: Jenny had the California Chicken she's so fond of and, if I'm not mistaken, ate the whole thing. Normally I'd say that means it was good but anyone of Haidle lineage eats everything in front of them... almost without exception. I had the Whiskey River BBQ Burger and it was on point! Quite good. Downside to the Des Moines shop though is that they went cheapskate on their side salads (yeah yeah, I realize salad for fries isn't gonna save anyone if they're poundin' burgers;) Thing is, you used to be able to sub out a side salad (full one) which was really tasty for their fries and now they bring you this little soup cup with a few iceberg leaves in it. C'mon people.

SERVICE: Julie was our waitress and she was efficient. Not "replace your Diet Coke before you ask" efficient but close. She did have kind of an overwhelmed look on her face but she looked young, had an 8top and a couple other noisy tables in her section so I think she did a fine job. 3.5 stars:)

The thing about Red Robin is you know what you're going to get. They're a safety net when we want to eat out but aren't sure where to go. Kind of like The Ram but less noise.

ehlo mundo

oh so yeah, this would be me type type typin' away at la computadora.

well, it won't be every time i post but hey what the heck...

food and whine

someday i'd like to be able to write for a living. funny thing is, outside of a JuCo newspaper i wrote in, i haven't done much of it:)

i'm kicking off my writing though now by posting about dailies (just randomness that goes on every day) and then also some yumyum food reviews and such. i'll probably also talk a lot about sports-- it's what i know.

Food Stuff
Wing Dome
Kent, WA
TASTE: verrry easy on the tastebuds. The Wing Dome has great wings, burgers, chicken sandwiches, onion rings, and even salads! My beer-drinking peeps always enjoy their PBR on tap and ThatOneGirlie even braved the 7alarm sauce (for which your picture goes on the Dome's "Wall of Fame").
SERVICE: we typically hit the Dome at less-busy times (Saturday lunches etc) but I've been there on a Friday night when they were shorthanded and scored a .2 on a 1 to 10. Everyone working there though is really really friendly.

Sports
It's great to see superpowers back in professional sports. I was raised a 49ers' fan, watching them crush people for years. I watched Bird's Celtics, Magic's Lakers, Jordan's Bulls, and the frickin Yankees all run people through my whole life and it's good seeing a dominant team.

On that note, I'm happy to see the Pats, the Colts, the Sawx and the Spurs even though I hate the Spurs and the Colts with a vengeance. I've rooted for the Boston teams because I Read Bill Simmons' articles on ESPN.com (he is both knowledgeable and HILARIOUS).

TV
My favorite show ever, The Office, just stopped their one hour episodes so we're back down to like 20 minutes a week... this might hurt. Between the character development and the freakishly uncomfortable Michael Scott moments, it's genius.

There's something about "officity" that hits us all where we live - first it was Office Space, now Office. Success follows this stuff though.


To all who are getting sick- please, PLease, PLEASE don't go to your office. I just caught whatever someone else decided to trot in with and it's a real pisser:(