A Maryland Thanksgiving

I may have ate twice my body weight this past Thanksgiving weekend in Baltimore. Uncle Billy & Auntie Colette sure know how to keep the house stocked with plenty of food. Day 1 included: Pot roast, shrimp, chicken, and Swiss chocolate. Day 2 (Thanksgiving Day): Turkey, pancit, lumpia, green bean casserole, salmon, pumpkin pie, apple pie, apple cider, mamon. Day 3: Dim sum and an assortment of 12 other Chinese dishes, Krispy Kreme donuts and milk. Day 4: Waffles, bacon, sausage, burgers, fries, chicken, ribs, mashed potatoes. Day 5: Eggs, rice, pot roast sandwich, mashed potatoes, chicken wings and a strawberry milk shake.

10 pounds heavier, I'm finally full. What a weekend. Plenty of laughs with cousins. One particular moment involved my cousin's girlfriend, Noreen, who came out with the Cabellons & Bersamins for lunch and a movie. After lunch we all went to see the movie, Alexander. Well, our family's claim to fame is our clever wit, and sometimes our not so clever wit. Anyways, the family is standing in line to purchase tickets, and while standing next to Noreen, I read a name of a movie which was playing at the theater, What The #$*! Do We Know (substituting '#$*!' with the word 'bleep'), and I say it in such a way that where it sounds like I'm asking Noreen a question. She innocently just shrugs her shoulders not knowing what I'm talking about. And after I realize she really doesn't know what the "bleep" I'm talking about, I point to the sign above the box office, and tell her, "I'm just joking with you. It's just a name of a movie that's playing". She set off a sigh of relief thinking that I was just giving her the family test of wit. Hahaha. Good times.

Oh yeah, don't see Alexander. Terrible doesn't begin to describe that piece of BLEEP.

Busy Before The Holidays

Phew...thank goodness Thanksgiving is in two days. And I'm going to spend it in Maryland with relatives this year. Up until today, I have been swamped at work and school. Over the past seven days, I had to finish up a school project and another homework assignment. As well as support two separate projects at work. And on top of all that, my manager asked me to start training two members of our team. It doesn't sound like much...but believe me...I wasted my entire weekend sitting in my office chair instead of watching mindless TV on a couch at home.

But pretty soon, all those memories will be gone...once I go into a Turkey-coma.

Future Homeowner

One of my friends just closed on his new house the other day, and a bunch of us helped him move in. And I was fairly impressed with his new home. Then this past Sunday, I was helping my other friend frame his unfinished basement, and we got to talking about housing. And it definitely got me into the mind set of possibly purchasing a home in Rochester. Since I may easily be here another 4 to 5 years finishing up my graduate degree at the University of Minnesota while working at IBM, this would be the most logical investment I could make.

Not sure how I'll make the finances work just yet. But I will be sitting down with a mortgage consultant tomorrow to discuss what options are available to me.

Scrabbled Minds

Took my first midterm in over 3 years for a graduate class I'm taking this Fall semester. And it wasn't a complete disaster, but the waters were definitely choppy on the Open-book Seas of Midterms. Our professor definitely threw a curve ball at us, and mentioned he had a reputation of giving easy tests. Well, apparently he's trying to change people's views of him. But I'm glad to be over with it. At least until the next exam.

Yesterday, my roommates and I decided to play a little game of Scrabble. And now we're hooked. Dan won 3 of the past 4 games we played, but I dominated our last game for once. I was board game champion of the house for a week until I lost to Scrabble yesterday. The games I won prior to Scrabble were called Puerto Rico, Carcassone, and The Farming Game. The Farming Game is based on areas located in eastern Washington, which was told to me by my roommates from farms in Northern Minnesota and Central Iowa. As lame as the Farming Game sounds, it's much more complicated and intriguing than it's big brother, Monopoly.

I plan to reign as the Board Game Champion of 5047 Manor Brook. Muhahaha (not a valid Scrabble word).

Crazy Confucius

Before voting over the lunch hour today, my buddies and I went to Hunan Garden for eats. As usually we talked football for half an hour, and then reminisced about the past Halloween weekend, and retold stories of weekends past. Of course my roommate, Dan, was the butt of all jokes because some of the funniest stories involved him.

After a hearty meal, I opened my fortune cookie and it read, "A very attractive lady has a message for you." At first I thought, yeah right. Don't mess with me, Confucius.

After voting, I went back to work and checked my email, and one new email popped up in my Inbox from a "Lee, Janice". My first thoughts were, "Who is Janice Lee? Is this stupid Spam?!?" I opened it up, and it was from this girl I briefly met at my buddy's wedding a few months ago. I was pleasantly surprised to get an email from her, and it definitely brightened my day.

By the way, she's attractive...very attractive. Confucius didn't mess with me.

I Can't Swim

I went to the Gym last night to avoid the trick-or-treaters. I shot baskets for a half an hour, and was draining long range shots without jumping. But when I tried jumping while shooting, I couldn't hit a basket. Usually it's the other way around. Then I proceeded to lift weights for another hour. Still trying to kill time, I decided to hit the pool for a couple of laps...

And when I say a "couple" of laps, I mean 6. I was seriously cashed out. I'm like a rock in water. My lungs were screaming like I was a smoker (which I'm not), and my legs were not moving. I really need start doing cardio cause 6 laps is ridiculous.

Note to self: do not go into the jacuzzi in the men's locker room ever again. Let just say you don't smell good when you come out of it. Yeah. Gross.