Happy Birthday Dad!!

Today is my dad's birthday. He is 67 years old. It's amazing he works out everyday, and when he's at his condo in FL he runs about 5 miles a day on the beach. He still works everyday at a job he loves...finally. (he took early retirement about 12 years ago from a job he had right out of college.) This picture was taken circa 1974 (check out that tie and pocket protector). I love you Dad!

Tiff and the art of motorcycle maintenance

When my friend Tiffany was here a couple of weekends ago, she told Dean and I how she would like to buy a motorcycle, but first she would have take some classes to learn how to ride one. Then she would have to buy one before she could take her driver's test because you have to use your own motorcycle. She just sent me an email telling me about her Easter and now she's even more pumped about taking the lessons and gettin' a hog. Her mom gave her some toy motorcycles and in the bottom of her Easter basket was a hat signed by the Orange County Choppers guys (the threeTeutals--American Chopper TV show). A friend of Katie's (Tiff's mom) went to Daytona bike week. Her daughter was horseback riding in Ocala, FL and while the daughter was at the show, she took off to bike week to get some stuff. She said all the OCC guys were really nice when she got the hat autographed. She is a huge fan like Tiff. If Tiff sends a picture of the hat, I'll post it.

Lisa's party two years ago

This is from Lisa's 30th birthday party. Dean and I flew to Altanta to surprise her. And she was so completely surprise. We had a fantastic party!

Happy Birthday Lisa!

Today is my girlfriend Lisa's 32nd birthday. We have been friend for about 25 years. (Second only to my friend Tiffany -- 27 years.) She is lucky to be in sunny Flordia with her husband (Brian), her baby (Gracie), and her aunt and uncle. I'm sad we are not together for her birthday. This is the first time in a long time.

Babel on

If the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie is a hit, I wonder how popular Alta Vista's Babel Fish site will become?

Old games revisited

I was thinking about the old Conan game I used to play on my 9 inch green monochrome monitor on the old Apple IIc back in fifth and sixth grades (1984-ish) and decided to see if I could find an old screen shot just to bring back the memories. I did better. I found a site that links to an Apple II emulator and links to some game downloads. On top of Conan, he also links to Rescue Raiders, where you are sending troops to defeat a fortress, and can get a helicopter to defend your troops ... still a little foggy on this one, does the cheat code ZIPPY bring back memories? It brought it all back for me. I haven;t taken the energy to download any of these, but I might down the road.

I also enjoyed his Rubik's puzzle page. He's looking for the Rubik's barrel. (Should I tell him it's probably still in my old night stand unless Kelly has taken it?) I remember Doug had the Missing Link and the Magic. The barrel was an easier puzzle and I really enjoyed having one I could solve as Doug showed off with the Rubik's Cube. All I could do was spell OHIO on it. (Although I think this guy's wrong about it being a "Rubik's" product ... but what do I know?) Also, remember the Rubik's Snake?

Just call me Mr. Observant

I'm not sure how long we've had this computer ... over three years ... and today I lifted the keyboard to dust the keyboard tray on the desk and what to my wandering eyes do appear? Two USB posts underneath there! And just after I explained to my cousin how a thumb drive would be handy, but I'd have to reach the back of my computer or install a few USB ports in the front. Oh, the possibilities ... free up a USB port and reinstall the web cam, buy an iPod shuffle (dream on), plug stuff in just because ... I could go on and on!

Dean's Cuz

This is Dean and his cousin Kerry. She is an amazing artist and just the sweetest thing. We can't wait for her to move here!!

Cousin visits

We got a message on Tuesday from my cousin Kerry, who had recently graduated from the University of Georgia. She has been interviewing for a job at the University of South Carolina here in town, and just found out that we live here. So she was calling to let us know she was coming for her third interview and was hopeful she would get the job. We offered to let her stay with us instead of getting a hotel, and she was very excited. Well, she came in Thursday, interviewed at the USC University Publications department and was offered the job (and she accepted!). On Friday, I had to work because my boss's sister, who is also a chiropractor, had her baby (7 pounds, 7 ounces, 20-1/2 inches long, Lea Kathryn), so I covered her office for her. But Jeni and Kerry drove around and Kerry found an apartment that fits her needs. All she has to do now is get it OK'd by her mom and stepdad and she'll be right down the street from us. She almost ended up in the same building as us, just on the other side, but the apartment wouldn't be ready in time. Instead, the one she wants is brand new. She'll be the very first resident in it. We're both very excited for her.

Tiff and Jen

This is from Tiff's first weekend here. We were getting ready to go out to dinner at California Dreaming. Check out her cool belt and new shirt. Thanks Old Navy.

Tiffany's visit

Tiffany came from Atlanta the past two weekends for visits. The first weekend she stayed with us and we all met up with some friends of her's from Hollins College. We had a great visit, and her allergies hardly flared up from our cats. While we were at lunch with her friends, I took Wallace, the three-and-a-half-year-old, out to the parking lot to look at the earth movers in the lot next door where they are building a Bonefish Grill. While I was standing there holding him, he turned to me and asked, "Why are you wearing that shirt?" I replied, "My wife picked it out for me." He thought for a minute, then said, "When my dad was your age, he wore shirts like that." (Note: His dad IS my age.)

Tiffany returned the next weekend for Gracie's One-Year Birthday, a Connie the Cow/barnyard themed party. It was a lot of fun to have everyone together. Nikki and Todd also came in from Atlanta with their two little ones, Morgan and Evan. Hopefully we'll be able to get back together with everyone soon. Tiffany is eager for us to head toward Atlanta and visit her at her mom's place in Big Canoe.

Happy Birthday Gracie

Happy Birthday Gracie!! This is from Gracie's first birthday party. I just can't believe this sweet little girl is one. Only a year ago we were all sitting at the hospital waiting for this beautiful girl.

Yeti Sports

Bored? Not anymore. Don't lose your whole day. Also, try this one ... one side of your brain against the other ... addition versus blending colors. My top score is 64, and this happened to be the only time that color beat math (margin of vistory was three).

Interesting visual website

I enjoy an engaging website. A friend sent us a link to this clock, and I explored the website and found it to be very interesting and visual. Check it out.

The The

One of our favorite movies is Empire Records. In the final scene, there is a great snippet of a song by The The called This is the Day. A while back, I browsed around haphazardly for a cd with it, but never had much luck. With two free songs remaining from iTunes, I thought I'd try to hunt it down. I found what may be a remix of the song, but I found their jukebox on the The The website and I guess it's the original. I really like the The The website because they actually let you listen to the entire song online, much like The Flaming Lips, and I respect that a lot.

Cream tea

I finally got geared up to fix some of my sample tea from Adagio Teas. I tried the cream tea and it was really good. The flavor got better as I got to the bottom of the mug, but I also used a big mug, so it may have been a little diluted. But like they said, it really took no more effort than making bagged tea.

I'm glad he's on our team

Jesse Mahelona, a defensive tackle for UT, was understandably upset to see his condo burning down, and in his anger hit a handrail on the firetruck hard enough to break it off. Instead of being charged, he is paying for the repairs. Now do you really want to line up on the field opposite a guy who is breaking metal off of firetrucks?

Security scare

A woman's scooter was blown up in London because security officials feared it might be a bomb. They could not identify an owner because it had no tags, so it was destroyed in a controlled explosion. Where was it parked? Outside the vehicle registration department where the lady was registering it to GET TAGS! Good thing no one thought to stick their head in there and ask if it belonged to anyone before blowing it up.

Two degrees of separation

Our really close friends in Atlanta had gone to a house-warming party at their friend's several months ago, and met Brian Nichols, the rape suspect turn killer and hostage taker from last Friday. It turns out that he was their friend's neighbor. Which, in turn, makes us only two degrees of separation from a rapist, killer and hostage taker. It's a small world afterall. On the plus side, they did say he was really nice.

Jewelry store

Jeni found a neat new jewelry store called Hand Picked this last weekend. We had tried to go this winter and it had already closed, but she went on Saturday with Tiffany and they had a lot of fun. To make things worse (or better), they are moving about two or three blocks down from my office.

Nashville Star

Nashville Star is back on and we're really enjoying it. We never really got into American Idol, but Nashville Star I enjoy because it's more than just karaoke. These people are also song writers and musicians. Ironically, I commented to Jeni tonight that I was surprised that no one every picked up Miranda Lambert, the third place finisher from the first season, only to see a commercial for her new CD.

No tea tease

I got my sampler of teas from Adagio Tea today and I am really impressed. They sent me this really nice package with four tea samplers, Oriental Spice, Strawberry, Cream and Mango. I haven't tasted any of them yet, but wow they do smell good. They also sent tea bags (since it's loose tea), a nice trifold intro pamphlet and even a personally signed thank you note (heck, they even priority mailed the package). I'm a big fan of customer service and they really won me over. Check them out!

Work

I love my job!

Music from Scrubs

I have always felt that Scrubs features some of the best fade in/fade out music of any current TV show, but I am usually at a loss for what that song actually was. Well, I found the Scrubs Music site, listing the songs featured on each episode of Scrubs.

The Car Who Loved Me

I passed a Lotus Elise today while running some errands for work. Sure, there is absolutely nothing practical about this car, but I've been in love with the Lotus since The Spy Who Loved Me when Roger Moore as James Bond drove his Lotus Esprit into the sea and it turned into a submarine. If I was living in the world of Grand Theft Auto, I would have definitely ditched my 1991 Honda Accord (283000+ miles) for this beauty!

A piece of Cake

I heard most of this interview by Terry Gross with John McCrea of the band Cake a while back, and was thinking of it again today. I've never knowingly listened to the band before this interview, but I really enjoyed their scratchy sound. If nothing else, skip ahead to about the 7:30 minute mark and listen to the cover of "I Will Survive."

Gracie's Party Invitation

My best friend's little girl, Gracie, is turning one in a couple of weeks. She loves Connie the Cow. Lisa and I tried to find some Connie birthday supplies, but we were unsuccessful. Then we decided we could do a "barnyard" theme and focus on the cow. I just happened to go to Target that same night, and low and behold at the "dollar spot" were these barnyard party supplies. Dean and I picked them up, and now the party is ready to go. If you haven't seen the dollar spot at Target, it's pretty neat. There are tons of little nicnacs for, you guessed it, a dollar. We were able to get 2 pkgs of invitations (12 per pack), 5 packs of napkins (20 per pack), and 5 packs of cups (10 per pack) for $12. Not bad. Now only things left are plates and decorations (balloons, streamers, etc).

Gracie's Little Red Barn Envelope

Well since we bought the invitations, and Lisa couldn't come up to Columbia for a week, I decided to paint little red barns on the envelopes. I thought they turned out pretty cute. Basically the invitation cost about 8.5 cents, so I thought it need a little jazzing up. I tried to do a cow that looked like Connie the Cow, but it didn't turn out very well. Needless to say I'm not the artist in the family.

Turkey and Balsamic Onion Quesadillas

I made these quesadillas a couple of weeks ago. They were fast, simple, and full of flavor. Dean and I loved them. I didn't use smoked turkey because I don't care for the taste, so I used oven baked turkey. Also the next time I might saute the onions for a couple of minutes to release the sugars. We added some low fat ranch dressing to the top, but they really didn't need it. The leftover balsamic vinegar did make a nice dressing for a garden salad.

I really liked this recipe for the plain and simple fact you can change the ingredients to your taste. I think pepper jack or co-jack would be wonderful. So many cheeses, so little time.

Turkey & Balsamic Onion Quesadillas

Eating Well February/March 2005
Fast and Easy

Soaking the onions in balsamic vinegar mellows them and brings out their sweetness. Accompany these delicious quesadillas with greens dressed in the leftover vinegar whisked together with 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

1 small red onion, thinly sliced (1/2 cup)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
4 10-inch whole-wheat flour tortillas
3/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (4 ounces)
8 slices deli turkey, preferably smoked (8 ounces)

1. Combine onion and vinegar in a bowl; let marinate for 5 minutes. Drain, reserving the vinegar for salad dressing.
2. Place 2 tortillas in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat (they will overlap); warm for about 45 seconds, then flip. Pull the tortillas up the edges of the pan so they are no longer overlapping. Working on one half of each tortilla, sprinkle one-fourth of the cheese, cover with 2 slices of turkey and top with one-fourth of the onion. Fold the tortillas in half, press gently with a spatula to flatten and cook until the cheese starts to melt, about 2 minutes. Flip and continue cooking until the second side is golden, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Make two more quesadillas with the remaining ingredients. Serve warm.

Makes 4 servings.
Per serving: 261 calories; 10 g fat (5 g sat, 0 g mono); 56 mg cholesterol; 25 g carbohydrate; 23 g protein; 2 g fiber; 702 mg sodium.

Nutrition bonus: Calcium (22% daily value), Magnesium (12% dv).

Adagio Teas

My sister-in-law directed me to the Adagio Teas website and explained their link rewards program. While I doubt I really rank highly enough to gain any big reward, I am curious to try their teas. I'm more of a tea drinker than Jeni. We have friends who have tea nights, with specialty teas, that they enjoy together. Nice idea, I think.

Great artwork

I found this great website with some very sharp artwork for your computer. I was directed to this website from the Icon Factory. He is one of their designers, and I have been really impressed with his icon sets, so when I found his website and some of his artwork and desktops, I was just in awe.

Men don't call each other

Men don't call each other. It's pretty much a fact. I have this patient who had been coming in about five months ago or so, and one day, he came in and ran into another patient who he had known since they were about six years old. Now these guys are in their late 50s, and they crowed on and on like older men do, full of bullshit and vinegar. Well, this week, the patient comes in, and asks if his friend has been in lately. He said they only live about a mile or so apart, and before they saw each other here hadn't talked for about seven years, because men don't call each other, but when they do see each other it's like no time has passed.