Thursday, November 30, 2006

Tuesday, November 28, 2006


Night one in Vegas...








The Colosseum







White lion

Cool ornaments in the Mirage


On the monorail

Klingon bird of prey

3D Chess in the Star Trek Museum

John Luc Picard's uniform

Star Trek Emblems

Me enjoying a warp core breach

Ethan enjoying a planet-sized Warp Core Breach

Ethan being assimilated by a Borg

Very cool Borg Sphere

Ethan doubling up on the moon-size Borg Spheres

Me drinking my moon-size Borg Sphere

Our flaming Bananas Foster (the flame just died on the caramel)

Ethan inside Caesars Palace

Me in Caesars Palace

Fancy schmancy curvy escalators

Cool statue at the base of the escalators


Ceiling in the Forum Shoppes

Cool light fixture in the Wynn hotel

Very cool parachuty thingies

Lots of colorful ones---you can see how big they are with the guy standing beneath them!! The cords moved them very slowly up and down


really cool one


Monday, November 27, 2006

Viva Las Vegas

We are back, after our short but sweet mini-trip to Vegas. Not a long trip, but we sure made the most of our time!

We flew down Thursday morning, arriving around noon. After waiting forever for our luggage in baggage claim, we caught a shuttle over to the Las Vegas Hilton, our home for the next few days. A quick check in, and we were whisked off to the 17th floor, roon 1728 with a view of the local mountains and a crappy golf course to the east. We could also see the Stratosphere if we looked to our right.

After getting situated, it was off to the buffet for some much needed food (we hadn't eaten at all that day). We overdid it. WAY too much food. They were having a Thanksgiving feast, and we sure feasted! We ended up going back up to the room for a couple hours to alleviate our massive stomach discomfort with some rest and relaxation. After an episode of CSI-Miami, we were back in business. We picked up some brochures at the box office (they were closed), then headed down to Quarks, the Star Trek Restaurant/Bar. Over an appetizer and some foaming drinks (they use dry ice..), we decided on our course of action. We headed up to the room and made some reservations--the Comedy Stop at the Tropicana for that night.

We bought some 10-trip passes on the monorail, then headed down to the end of the line and into the comedy club. A thoroughly entertaining show. We did some more wandering around, looking at all the sights and sounds. A nice evening.

Friday, we were up bright and early (around 1030am), and decided to head down the strip to pick up the tickets for the other shows we had booked Thursday evening. We brunched at the Mirage after waiting in line for 45 minutes. The food was so good, it was ALMOST worth it.......we are not wait-in-line people. A bit more wandering around and seeing the sights, then back to our room to regroup. We decided that *this* was the day to Trek-out. We headed down to Star Trek: The Experience. I forgot how much fun this is!! There is a Star Trek museum of sorts, with a huge timeline of things that happened in the Star Trek world, lots of props from the shows, costumes, etc. Then there are two rides. We chose to do the Klingon encounter first--the story is that you are abducted by some Klingons from the future because you are an ancestor of John Luc Picard, and taking you out will make him never have been born (does that make sense??). Then you get into a transport shuttle and it is one of those rides where you see this massive curved screen in front of you, and a movie plays on it and the shuttle you are sitting in moves as if you really are in the movie. Anyway, makes you a bit seasick, but very cool. We are saved and returned to Vegas.

The second ride in the Star Trek Experience is the Borg invasion. In this one, we are transported to a ship millions of miles away to take part in some sort of experiment, and in the middle of our debriefing, the Borg attack and start taking over and assimilating everyone. We are moved to a massive shuttle, given 3D glasses, and the Borg queen taunts us and tries to assimilate us. It is really cool--when things like a giant space bug get blown up right in front of you, you get sprayed with a teeny bit of water, and when they inject you with nanoprobes to take over your body, the chair you are sitting in pokes things out into your back and freaks you out. Very cool.

So, we Trekked out. We finished the rides, then went to Quarks for dinner--we got two free dinners as a part of the package we were booked under. I had a really good chef salad, and we split a Quesadilla and had bananas Foster for dessert (french vanilla ice cream with marinated bananas served over flaming caramel sauce), and of course we each had a Warp Core Breach to drink. A very nice dinner.

Later that evening, we headed over to the Mirage to see Wayne Brady--he was in town for only 2 nights and we were thrilled that there were still some seats available. What a good show!! He asks for input/suggestions from the crowd, and totally uses that to do the show. He is great (the guy from Whose line is it anyway).

More wandering the strip, lots of entertainment.....

Saturday, I will admit.....we slept in. Got up late, headed down to the Flamingo, where we had a champagne brunch in their buffet. Excellent omelettes made to order, and I made my champagne into a Mimosa. We spent a lot of time wandering the strip--lots of cool new things in Cesaer's Palace to see, the entire new building of the Forum Shoppes, the colosseum. Ethan saw some definite similarities to things he saw in Rome, we took pictures to compare later. We also headed over to Harrahs and got some margaritas by the yard (I had a strawberry dacquiri), then walked up to the new Wynn casino. I had heard that their bathrooms were very fancy, so we checked them out, took pictures of these cool parachute looking light thingies. I will post pictures, they are too hard to describe. I thought the whole casino looked very nice, elegant and cool.

We headed back to the hotel to pick up our tickets for that evenings entertainment--Toni Braxton! Some of you may know that Toni is one of Ethan's most favorite singers of all time. We thoroughly enjoyed this concert, it was a really good show. Afterwards, we went over to Harrahs and caught the Improve comedy show, featuring the tall bald guy from Living Single (I can't remember his name). Another great show.

We were out and about until the wee hours wandering the strip, had sandwiches at a diner, received a disturbing phone call from home and were generally upset and pissed off the rest of the night. Went back to the room and slept around 3am.

Woke up Sunday morning, packed up everything and headed to the airport around noon for our 4pm flight--we were told it would be mayhem there since it was the Sunday after thanksgiving. It was not actually that bad, we ended up sitting in a sports bar watching the NFL games for FOREVER. Our plane was quite delayed because of the storm in the Pacific NW, so we didn't even board the plane until 5pm, then there was a delay in getting our baggage onboard because the 1pm flight to Seattle left just before us, and their baggage took priority since they were 4 hours late to our 1 hour.

We were flying first class, which was cool. We had teeny bottles of water waiting for us, then we had some glasses of wine in real wine glasses, and a fancy schmancy chipotle dip with crackers and breadsticks. The steward even addressed us by name! Once we got to Seattle, it was all backed up here, so many flights had been delayed, and they were now de-iceing all the planes before they could take off. So...we sat in the plane and drove in loops around the terminal for over an hour waiting for a spot to open up for us to pull in to and unload. After an eternity, we got off and headed to the massively overcrowded baggage claim area, then to the extremely long taxi line. All in all, we were home LATE!! It was supposed to be a 7pm arrival, but we got home after 11pm!!

Still, a great trip. I will put up pictures tomorrow afternoon.....

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

My stupid car is stupid broken and now I have to pay LOTS of money and it just sucks.

The 'check engine' light came on (for like 5 minutes), so we called the dealer and scheduled an appointment--we are due for our 60k mile service anyway (cha-ching...). And of COURSE the problem is not related to the engine/transmission/exhaust systems that are covered in the 100k mile/10 year warranty, AND since we were over our 5 year 60k limit of full car coverage (we have 60,200 miles---VERY close, and we have had the car 4 years, 11 months and 21 days), so we have to pay for the stupid broken part--some sort of timer sensor thingy. $$$. AND....our brakes are quite low and need to be replaced (we already knew they were due soon, but STILL!!), and the battery is apparently very low and due for a replacement, AND 60k is where you are supposed to get a new timing belt, which is ALSO $$$$$$ to have done.

All of that being said, we are out a high 4 digits of money, and it sucks. We did get a loaner car for while ours is in the shop, and we are getting a better brake deal from Meineke instead of our dealer, and will buy a battery for much cheaper than the dealer, and put it in ourself, or have Justin's brother Austin, who is a mechanic, put it in for us in exchange for a case of beer. But STILL!!!!!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Beer Karma

Ethan likes, or shall we say ~loves~ Alaskan Amber. We know this. To recap, we spent our first anniversary touring the Alaskan Brewery in Juneau, we had a bar specially bring in Alaskan for Ethan's 'retirement' from Argens, we had a keg of the Amber for our wedding reception.

So, it seems only fitting that we/he had the experience he did this past weekend. We were tailgating (actually, we Dalegate. We are getting T-shirts next week as charter members of the Dalegaters. Dale is a current Argens employee who tailgates with us at Argens in the parking lot. He has a Dalegating with the 'Hawks banner and lots of fun stuff. We now have a TV with an extension cord to watch other games around the league while we imbibe, and a nice BBQ and tons-o-food and beverages and it is all good. But, I digress....)

So we are Dalegating, and this car pulls up to parallel park in the spot Ethan and I usually park in (our car is broken so we took the bus that day). We notice it has a lovely tow hitch on the back with an Alaskan Amber beer tap on it. Very cool. It did extend the length of the vehicle by a couple inches, and therefore make it harder to park, but still very cool. We assisted the guy in squeezing into the spot.

Karma

He turns out to be ~the~ distributor guy for Alaskan in the area. He just so happens to have a pony keg in his trunk of a NEW beer they are coming out with which will not be available until March 2007. It is called Alaskan IPA. He taps the keg and whips out a stack of Alaskan Brewery cups and gives us all 2 hours worth of beer. We gave him a sausage. And a bun and ketchup. And the aforementioned parking assistance. Everyone went on and on about how much Ethan loves Alaskan Amber. On and on and on. So the guy whips out a fancy schmancy 10 pocket thick, warm fleece jacket with the Alaskan Brewery logo on it. In Ethan's size. Gave it to him as a supporter gift.

Let us just say that Ethan was really warm at the game with that extra coat on.

Sunday, November 12, 2006


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Lockshop in Amsterdam

Fancy light in somewhere fancy at the Vatican (I think.....I was not there....I do not know for sure)

Colosseum

Ethan

Ethan and Tobias at the Colosseum
Okay, I have been admonished to write more frequently on this blog. I seriously sat down in a fit of boredom at work on Friday (veterans day......so boring at work!! It is a holiday, so no social workers, no physical therapists, very limited doctors, NOTHING for me to do!), and tried to blog. I tried and tried, and could think of NOTHING to blog about. So I didn't.

Having the same issue now.......suggestions would be appreciated....


Oh, we are going to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving. Did I blog about that yet?? Maybe not. We fly down Thanksgiving day, and back Sunday morning, in time to watch the late (1pm) NFL games. We are staying at the Las Vegas Hilton, and I booked us in the Nemesis package..

Yes, that means we have tickets to Star Trek:The Experience included in our package, and two dinners at Quarks (gotta be a Trek fan to get that one), but we figured that we would be buying both of those anyway, so this saves us money.

Yes, we watch Star Trek. Yes. We have most of the versions of the Enterprise mounted in our office/computer room. Yes, Ethan paid $20 a couple years ago to sit in the captain's chair on the fake bridge of the Enterprise they have in Vegas, so he could get his picture taken. Yes, he made a serious, captain face in the picture, and yes we have it displayed with our Star Trek ships.

No, we are not odd. A billion people, including Seattle's own Bill Gates, watch and love Star Trek. It is one of the most successful television enterprises of all time (enterprises.....tee hee......ENTERPRISES!!!). So quitcherbitching. We are not trekkies. Although, you should watch that movie (trekkies). It is fairly hysterical. I know we enjoyed it.

Lots of things have cult followings. The ones I personally subscribe to (that I can think of at the moment) are (in no particular order) Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings (see how they are NOT in order??), Firefly/Serenity, LOST, Battlestar Galactica (the new show, not the old cheesy version)...........and Chicken in a biskit (I have a box next to me.....I tried the cheapo Safeway version, but they just aren't the same. That crisp chickeny snap as you bite into the biscuit.....pure heaven)
I am sure there are more, but I want to go watch Serenity now, and do some scrapping. Actually, I am quite sure I will do NO scrapping. Half the time I am in my scrapbook room I just organize things and look at all the cool things I have. Such a wonderful room!! Someday I will own a serious wide angle lens (mine starts at 28, need a wider one than that....), and I will take some pictures of this teeny slice of paradise in my own house. I cannot convey exactly how much I enjoy that room....

Oh, and if you think of things I should blog, TELL ME!!! My life is SO boring. I work 5 days a week, come home and do boring things, maybe a couple Sonics games each week, a Seahawks game on the weekend.....vacations a couple times a year....really, how many times do you want me to tell you how much I love my cats???

Monday, November 06, 2006

Okay, I know I told some of you (well, Davinie), that I would put up pictures of the scrappy projects I did at the convention. You may notice that they are not currently visible.

My bad.

We watched football all yesterday, and had a Sonics game in the afternoon, so I was a bit busy. Yes, it takes 2 minutes to do. Surprising how hard that time can be to find......

Today is Monday Night Football versus the crappy Raiders, so I am going straight from work at 230 to the bar down the street to reserve a table for Ethan, Justin, Kim and I, and from there we will go to the game to get soggy (supposed to be TWO INCHES of rain today, which is amazing, considering that the rain we are getting is like a massive thick mist, not real drops, just a THICK fog of wetness. Kinda like a cold sauna). At least our seats are under cover. Except that the mist is moving in a sideways fashion. Oh, well. I have a warm coat and a scarf and a fuzzy Seahawks hat.

We bought a laser light for the kitties. They LOVE it. Shadow is going to lose some serious ounces if he keeps this up. They totally freak out when they see the little red light. More than catnip, even. It is funny to get them chasing it in a tiny circle. When you stop, their little heads bobble and they fall over. It is all fun and games until you give your cat a seizure, right??

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Day one of the Elliptical Machine



Oh


My


God.



Apparently, it is WAY past time for me to exercise. My lungs were about to crawl out my throat and die. My heart is flabby. Floppy, even. My legs feel fine, my muscles are not overly worried, but my heart did NOT like the exercise.


Day 2 had better be easier.....