So, I did some little tweeks to the blog today. I updated to WP 2.3.2 finally, which should have no effect on any of you. I also added a plugin to visit a random page, which you should see on the left. The problem is when you go to a random post, there is no sidebar on the single post pages, so you can’t go to another random post. I plan to fix this soon, possibly within the next hour or so.
Just thought I would let you know.
nick
So, first post of the new year is about…
stuff I forgot to post last year.
In the past couple weeks, with TV utterly shit-tacular, we have been renting more movies. Spiderman 3, Superman Returns, SuperBad, and Balls of Fury just to name a few. They were all pretty good. Superbad actually surprised me, I thought it was going to be incredibly stupid but managed to be pretty good.
Since Jenn bought me the Lego set for Christmas, I have been kind of obsessed with them. I found a few good sites online including BrickSet that list pretty much every set since the 60’s and PICSL that has original instructions for most all sets. With that information, I picked up all my old Lego sets from home and am trying to reassemble as many as I can find the parts for. I will try and post pictures of them all when I get a few done.
Of course, a New Years post wouldn’t be complete without resolutions. I survived to move, didn’t freak out too much, and am doing rather well at Ferris, so last year’s are good. I didn’t bike much though.
For 2008, I want to try and get in contact with a few more people that I used to talk to but haven’t in years. Facebook is helping alot with that already. I still want to bike more, but we will see. It won’t be too hard to do more than this year though. I want to blog more regularly too. I’m not saying back to every 3rd day, but more than once a week. Maybe will think of more for next post.
And finally, I am considering a new theme. Depends how much time I have in the next two weeks. I am just getting sick of these, and I am technically plagiarizing the pics I use at the top of the page. Besides, it’s me, I am amazed I made it over a year with this set.
You may have noted that there are ads again on the right. I decided anything is something, and if the site can actually pay for itself I should at least try. I only need to make like 2 or 3¢ a day after all.
OK, that’s all for today.
nick
With just 3 hours left in the year, I think I can safely say this will be my last post of 2007. Here it is.
Friday, Jenn and I left for Alpena about 1:00. Just our luck, the snow rolled in about 1:00, so that made it more interesting. There were a few times where visibility couldn’t have been more than 500 ft, and others where it was not bad at all. The biggest annoyance was people being way too cautious, and going 25 in a 55 when the road was totally clean.
Once in Alpena, we had our gift exchange. We got new dishes, a new digital camera (Olympus FE-230), a few candles, some Christmas ornaments, a gallon of Hawaiian Punch, a set of binoculars, a pair of gloves and a scarf, a hoodie, and memory cards for out phones. That was the stuff for Jenn and I, and for just me. There was some more for just Jenn, but I don’t really remember that. We gave Jenn’s family their presents too, including a Transformers voice changing helmet for Johnny, which turned out to be the most annoying gift possible. After gifts, we had dinner, sat around and played with everything, then went to bed.
Saturday morning we awoke, had a little breakfast, and headed down to Bay City. It was the first time we went from Alpena to Bay City since Easter. Once in Bay City, we exchanged gifts with my Mom, played with the Wii for a little bit, then went to Kingfish for dinner. Following that, we went to see my Grandma and Dad and exchange gifts with them, then back home and a little more Wii.
Sunday we woke up and headed to Rudy J’s for dinner, then to Midland for a little shopping. We realized we didn’t really need anything and continued on home. I never got to see my brother as he was out of town, and got back a little after we had left.
Today we sat around. Jenn works tomorrow so in bad early, no new years celebration here.
I will update tomorrow with some things I have been forgetting to mention, and to make the first post of the year.
nick
So, Jenn and I spent Christmas together yesterday. We woke up, exchanged gifts, talked about making breakfast, played with our gifts, took a nap, made dinner, ate, and watched TV. I got her a bathroom water filter with drinking fountain and a video adapter for her MacBook. She got me a new wallet, a Lego set, and a watch. After assembling the Legos, I spent far too much time looking up Legos online.
Our Christmas dinner consisted of sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes with gravy, roasted pork loin, biscuits, apple pie, green bean casserole, and jellied cranberries. It was pretty good.
We did learn though, that Christmas is not the same alone. It just seemed like it was done really fast. We really didn’t have a lot of choice though. Jenn worked the day before and day after, so driving to Bay City or Alpena were out, and I wasn’t going to go home and leave her completely alone on Christmas. Next year hopefully will work out better.
Friday morning we plan to leave for Alpena, spend the day and night there, then down to Bay City Saturday and spend the night there, then back here Sunday for a rest on Monday.
I think that about covers it.
Maybe an update before we leave if something good happens, if not when we return Sunday or Monday.
nick
So, Friday I went home to see the family. Was rather uneventful actually, sat around and not much more.
Saturday I met with Dan, Jeremy, Dave, and Matt at Hooters around 6, had some food and a rather craptastic waitress, then headed to Hooligan’s around 8. We sat there until close at 2 having drinks, singing Karaoke, and bullshitting. You can view Dan and Jeremy on YouTube actually, I posted videos of their attempts under my account. Since I had not been drinking, I gave Dan and Jeremy a ride home, as Dan’s mom is just a few blocks from my mom’s house.
Sunday I awoke on the couch and called my mom as I was alone, and found she was at Rudy J’s just finishing breakfast after standing in front of Circuit City and Toys R Us, and had gotten a Wii. Once she got home, I spent most of the day playing Wii sports, and ran with my brother to Target to get WiiPlay, where we found out they had had 60 Wii systems come in that morning. If anyone wants a Wii, they seem to be getting easier to get, especially if you show up early Sunday morning.
Todd came over later Sunday and played a few games with me. He had been at Hooligan’s too, and met up just by chance. After he left, Chris and Brandon played some game till Chris went to bed, then Brandon and I spent a few hours playing WiiSports some more. I was really getting good at baseball and golf, and decent at bowling. Tennis and boxing I was consistently sucktacular.
Monday I woke up, packed everything, and headed back here. I spent the day with Jenn who had it off doing not too much. Tuesday jenn worked, but only until 3. I made Chicken Kiev and cheesy potatoes. Wednesday we got up, she packed, we made a frozen pizza and did some laundry, and then she left to Ann Arbor to be with her dad for his surgery. I have just sat around and enjoyed the nothing since. Her dad was scheduled to go in today at 2:30.
We planned on me going to Bay City tomorrow, and she would meet me and spend the night there, then meet up with her parents in Alpena Saturday. however, the current word is her dad won’t be released until Sunday, so we are holding Christmas off until next weekend.
I got some Christmas gifts while in Bay City. A set of CorningWare from my Dad, a Chicago Cutlery knife se from my mom, and a set of glasses from my Mom to Jenn. Out gifts to them I didn’t take, and are waiting until next weekend, along with whatever I get from my Grandma (a pair of Dockers gloves, just like the ones I got 3 years ago but I had to send back for repair and never saw again).
And I think that is all.
nick
So, the shopping trip went OK. We went into Nordstrom’s first, and saw a few things we kind of wanted, but no gifts. Jenn bought something for her aunt at Lane Bryant, then we went for lunch.
First, we went to BD’s, but were told about a 20 minutes wait so we went to Grand Rapids Brewing Company. The two beers I tried were so-so, but their sausage plate was very good. Homemade polish sausage, onion bratwurst, sauerkraut, potato pancake, whole grain mustard, and horseradish.
After that, we went to the Woodland Mall and shopped Eddie Bauer, the Apple Store, and Macy’s to name a few. I got Jenn and my Mom’s gift then while we were in JC Penny I thought of getting a throw blanket for my grandma, however they had a very poor selection. So, rather than walk back to Macy’s, we drove to the mall in Grandville.
We found the throw I wanted at Macy’s, then as we walked through the rest of the mall we quickly got irritated by the thousands of people and decided to get out of there.
On the way home, we stopped at Rosie’s Diner in Rockford. I had the chili cheese fries and a slice of dutch apple pie a’la mode. it was all really good, but the chili was really coney, but still good.
Sunday we went to Meijer, Lowe’s, the Dollar Store, and the Old Pioneer Store downtown.
Yesterday was my Statics and Strengths exam, today I turned in a lab and our project for Industrial Engineering and my CNC project, and tomorrow is my Statistics exam.
Snow has been falling here all day, probably about 5″ by now. It’s really wet stick snow too, which is good for snowmen and snowballs, but quite slippery. The fact that they seem to be waiting for it to stop snowing to plow isn’t helping either, especially because it doesn’t seem to be stopping.
OK, that is all I have to say. I will leave you with a pic from about 4:30.
nick
Sorry about the hiatus, has been a little busy with the semester coming to an end. All the projects are done now, just exams next week.
Last night, I saw 4 doe walk out of the treeline, come about 50 ft from me, finally notice me, and run off. Was pretty cool.
Thursday of Friday I am coming to Bay City, after exams. Planning on something with guys from the library on Saturday, and Todd wants to go see Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Futurama movie was pretty good, despite what Scott told me. I am on a mission now to find a Futurama episode that was less good than the movie. Adult Swim is supposed to have a marathon, I will find something then. Maybe the musical episode, where Fry gets the Robot Devil’s hands?
On Wednesday, the 5th, my iBook turned 5 years old. It kind of looks like I might even see it turn 6. It has held up quite well.
I was thinking, and you know the old guys who yell about the young kids and that they need to stay off his lawn? Yeah, that will be me. I am only 25, and I already dislike high-schoolers, as they are too damn young and just seem more annoying than we were in high school. With another 30 or 40 years of dwelling on it, and a bigger gap, by the time I am 60 or so i will be bitching about the damn young’n 50 year olds.
Scott is in Bay City, and I will not be able to see him. As I said, I will be in town Thursday of Friday, and he leaves Thursday morning. I missed him the last time he was in town too.
I saw Ocean’s 13 too, that was decent. The first one was pretty good, second a little less, third a little more less.
Tomorrow Jenn and I are going Christmas shopping in Grand Rapids. Hopefully we can get everything done.
Speaking of Christmas, her family Christmas will be held in Ann Arbor, as her dad will be getting a pacemaker on the 22nd.
I think that is it for right now.
ttyl,
nick
OK, looking at visit stats, have some questions.
1) Who is the person in Bay City using Firefox on Vista?
2) Where the heck is Scott? Is he the one on Vista?
In other news, school keeps getting closer and closer to the end.
I think that’s all.
nick
Bender’s Big Score will be available on DVD Tuesday. Yes, this Tuesday. The first of 3 Futurama Movies, later to be chopped up into 9 episodes to be shown on Comedy Central, as Adult Swim is loosing the contract to air it next month, but will have a very long marathon.
Anyway, yeah, Futurama movie on DVD Tuesday.
Also, I just broke 145,000 words.
nick
I guess I am a little late, so alot to go over.
First Thanksgiving was at Jenn’s parents last weekend. We left here Friday afternoon and took 10 across to Clare, then 127 up to Gaylord where we stopped at Jays for a look around. From there, we took 32 across to Alpena where we arrived after 7. Friday night was mostly sitting around, played Trouble with Johnny, and went to bed.
Saturday we ran to Staples for no particular reason, had lunch at Applebees, and spent time with her family. The neighbors were up from Detroit and their son shot his first deer, and a friend of Jenn’s family and his wife came over and she got her first deer as well.
Sunday we had our dinner, mostly appetizers and the like. Jenn’s sister and boyfriend and her 2 were over as well, and it was fun. Around 2 or 3 we left for home, and decided to take 33 down to 72 and across to Greyling. We missed 72 though, and ended up going through Rose City and having to take 55 through Houghton Lake to 127. It really wasn’t out of the way, as there is no good route, and going south then west or west then south makes no real difference. All told, it is 4 hours, 200 miles between, plus or minus a little depending on the route.
Monday and Tuesday was class, that’s about it. Jenn was off both days, and made me Beef Tips and Noodles Monday, then we went to Bungalow for all you can eat spaghetti Tuesday, which was a good deal at $6.95. By 8:30 I was in bed with a headache, and quickly asleep.
Wednesday morning Jenn did work, so got up at 5, and out the door by 5:30. Having been to bed so early the night before, I was up with her, and unable to fall back asleep. I managed to wait until about 7, then got antsy and left for Bay City. I made a stop in Evart at McDonald’s for breakfast, then continued on arriving in Bay City about 9. Most of the morning I spent with my mom, then went to visit my dad for a while, then shopping with mom. I installed a new blind, new thermostat, and fixed her stereo that wasn’t working right. While we were out getting everything, we had Old Great Wall too.
Thursday I helped out some with dinner, then my Dad came over and we ate. The standard dinner, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, squash, sweet potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce. The stuffing was pecan and dried cherry, I rather enjoyed it. After dinner, we watched Happy Feet on one of the premium channels, then Live Free or Die Hard that I had rented with my dad the night before. Both movies were good, but Die Hard was freaking sweet. While we watched, my mom brought us some shrimp and cocktail sauce that was held back from dinner as we decided there had been enough. The sauce was made with very fresh horseradish, and we had to add more ketchup 2 or 3 times to get it right. Strong is good, but for eating a lot, a little weaker is better. After the movie, I headed home, about 7:30 or so. I got back to Big Rapids a few minutes before 9. While in Bay City, I picked up our Christmas Tree and a few other things, so Jenn helped me bring those in.
Interestingly, I turned on Z93 while in Bay City, and it actually came in all the way here, not going out until, I swear, I parked my car. It works somewhat around town, but just barely. For some reason though, where I park my car, I just get silence. Weird.
Friday morning, we went shopping: Staples, Menards, Big Lots, and Meijer, plus Family Video. Then we came home, watched I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and set up the tree. After adding the lights we bought, we realized we needed more, so out to Lowes and Meijer again. Back home, we finished the tree, had some drinks, ordered a pizza, and watched part of Shrek 3.
Saturday, Jenn worked and I sat around doing nothing. When she got home we finished Shrek, which I returned afterward and that was the night.
Today, same as yesterday. When Jenn gets home we will have dinner (pork cutlet, squash, augratin potatoes) and watch Ocean’s 13. I will do some homework soon too.
While shopping friday, we got memory cards for our phones, an inflatable coleman mattress that converts into a king, double high twin, 2 twins, or a couch, some glasses for Jenn’s sister, a japanese rice bowl set for my dad (2 bowls, 2 pair chopsticks, and 2 soup spoons), ornaments, lights, candles, and a wreath. We kind of wanted the digital photo frame from Meijer, for $29, but were long gone when we got there.
So, I think that is it. I am off to do my homework, and get ready for the second to last week of class (this week and next week of class, then 3 days of exams).
Scott, aren’t you done soon? You never called back after I called about forgetting your birthday.
Ok, bye!
nick
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