Mid-Week

Hey, I am going to give you a quick mid-week update. I don't have much to write about and I also don't have any pictures to share, so Teed you should just stop now. 

Ando and I have been going through movies from Netflix like they are water. We just keeping receiving, watching, returning and then starting the process over again. I don't know why we didn't do this earlier. I am going to be a movie buff pretty soon, or at least until we get TV shows. On Wednesday Ando and I finally got around to watching "The 40 Year Old Virgin". While we were watching the movie we got so hot that we both took our shirts off. 

It has been a nice summer here in Cincy lately, but that all quickly changed on Wednesday. It got hot and very humid. Ando and I thought about trying to wait out this little heat wave and keep the air off, but after watching a movie without shirts on, like complete hillbillies, we changed our minds. The air went on right when the movie was finished so we could get some sleep.

I was very happy that the air was on today when I got back from my run. I have no idea what I was thinking when I decided to go for a run this morning, but about 20 minutes in I realized I was a complete idiot and headed back to the house. I was sweating like a pig, Ando loves when I am like this, and just wanted to get into a cooler place. Running in humidity stinks. 

And tonight I got rained on, which I could have used while I was running, while working the first After Hours event in West Chester. Things were going very smoothly until a storm rolled in and drenched us, this includes Macho Max who was freelancing for us. We were trying to get everything torn down before the rain started, but we failed miserably. Now I can only hope for some more rain on Saturday! I also expect to see all my readers next Thursday at the After Hours concert. 

I ran in heat and humidity; no baby to make it even more uncomfortable.

So Much Fun!

My life has been a bit boring lately so I haven't felt the need to write a blog. I didn't think you needed to hear about me cutting the grass or emptying a dishwasher so i am going straight to the weekend.

Friday night Jenster, Ando and I went on a night hike at Sharon Woods. We didn't know if we would be the youngest people there or the oldest. Luckily there weren't many kids there, probably because it didn't start till 9:30 pm. The hike wasn't what I was expecting. I was hoping to get out on a trail into the woods, but instead we stayed on the paved path at Sharon Woods and only went about a quarter of a mile out.

After the disappointing hike, where we didn't really see anything, except the lifesaver wintergreen mint trick, Ando and I headed to the Gypsy Hut to meet Mateo and Coriander, sorry if they have new names I can't keep everyone straight. I will try and keep their names the same from here on out. We just hung out on the patio and had a couple of drinks together and made plans to hit up the zoo on Saturday.

And that is just what we did. Ando, myself, Mateo, Coriander, and JB all headed to the zoo for some afternoon fun. I hadn't been to the zoo since I was a senior in High School and thought it would be a good time. JB also got all of us in for free since he works there for the summer. You can't beat a free trip to the zoo. It was very crowded and we didn't want to spend our whole day at the zoo so we didn't see everything, but did try and hit up everything "people" wanted to see. JB also gets half off all food so it was Icee's all around midway through our visit. I must say the zoo wasn't what I remembered it being. It is a little sad to see these animals in such small spaces with no where to roam. And the people who visit the zoo are an exhibit in themselves. We counted numerous t-shirts with priceless sayings such as, "ain't no lovin' like Kentucky lovin'".

Overall I was glad I went to the zoo again, and that it was free, but I have a feeling I won't be going again for awhile. And for all of those who grew up in Cincy the Insect house, Nocturnal House and Reptile house are all the same. Nothing has changed since we were little; I even weighed myself in bugs!

That night Ando and I had a grill out at our house. We thought it may get rained out, but it didn't rain that long and we didn't grill till it was done raining. We even had some new company for the night, Brentano and DA, no she isn't the district attorney Joel. DA is officially back in Cincy and hopefully we will be hanging out with the two of them, Brentano just needs to get down here now, more.

The best part of the evening was Murphy being afraid of Taca. She was just sleeping in her car seat, but for some reason Murph was freaked out and kept running away whenever she made a little noise. His tail even got puffy he was so scared of her, but he couldn't leave her alone either. He needed to know what exactly was in his "territory". Oh, and there was also a little "keg", 5 litres, of Heineken in the fridge; that wasn't so bad either.

Sunday Ando, Jenster and I all went for a bike ride in the morning at Lunken. We went twice around this time for 10 miles. When we finished our ride Ando and I ran a few errands, mainly Lowes, and I did yard work while Ando started trying his hand at some electricity. I got so wrapped up in yard work that I completely forgot about my soccer game. It was a 5:50 game and I thought about it at 6:20. I can't believe I totally forgot about my game; I hope they didn't run out of girls.

I was going to write about playing soccer as my tag line, but I didn't go so I have to think of a new one.......Murphy was scared by a baby; there isn't a permanent one on the way in this house.

Graduation

Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote, but our computer, or
should I say internet, wasn't working upstairs. For some reason it
just started working on its own today so here I am, back.

The weekend went very quickly for me. I am not sure if it had to do
with me being back at work or the fact that I was so busy. Saturday I
did some freelance work in the morning for my good pal Macho Max. I
had to go around the city and shoot some video for Cincinnati Bell
Volunteer Day. My morning started at 8:00 am and I finished up around
one in the afternoon. I needed to go to work that night, but didn't
feel like just staying out so I stopped by my parents for lunch. I
knew we didn't have anything at our house and my parents always have
something to eat there. I also got to see my dad and wish him Happy
Father's Day. I wasn't going to be able to see him on Father's Day so
I wished him one early.

I came home after lunch and took a short nap before heading off to
work. I wasn't looking forward to working the first Saturday night I
was back from vacation, but it saved me a vacation day. When I started
setting up for the shoot I thought things were actually going to go
smoothly, but oh how I was mistaken. When I went to start the truck it
would start and I noticed a light had been left on which drained the
battery. I tried to jump start it, but that didn't even work. So I had
to head back to the station to take the truck back and grab the van.
By the time I got back I only had a half hour to finish the set up and
graphics. Somehow it all got done, but was a bit more drama than I
wanted.

That night after work I met up with Teed, Mo, Taca, and Jenster on the
back porch of Jenster's house. There was also some dinner left over
for me to eat. We all hung out for awhile, and I got to hold Taca
again, I think she is getting used to Aunt Shando and asks for me by
name now. Ando and I then headed to Oakley Pub and Grill to meet up
with DKNY and BH. They came in from New York for the weekend to
celebrate Matthue's graduation. When we got there and walked up I
noticed Oakley Pub and Grill added some outside seating. It was a nice
night out so we all sat outside. There may have been another reason
that we sat outside; there was a disco ball in the bar area. It was
bizarre since there was no dance floor anywhere.

Sunday, I am now realizing this blog is getting long and I don't have
that many picture to give you either, sorry Teed, Ando and I went for
a short bike ride at Lunken. We are trying to take a bike ride once a
week and I made us keep our promise this week even though we didn't
have much time. After our quick little ride we needed to get ready for
Matthue's graduation party. When we got to the party Ando and I had to
turn around to pick up the party subs and some more ice to make sure
the two kegs stayed chilled. Once we settled in to the party it was
lots of fun. I had too much to drink and mixed too many alcohols, but
still didn't feel that bad the next day. I got to try my hand at a new
game, flip cup, and play an old standard, croquet. I think I am a
little too old for drinking games and am going to stick with the games
I already know. Amazingly it didn't rain either. It wanted to toward
the end of the night, but it just blew over instead; amazing if you
know how normal parties go for Ando's family.

I played a drinking game with college kids; I'm not going to have a
little one to put in college soon.

California

Well all I am back home safe and sound from my west coast adventure with Jenster. I figure writing about every single day would take up a lot of my, and your, time; plus so much happened I'm sure to forget some memorable moments.

I am going to give you the long and short of the trip and basically a bunch of pictures. I took way too many of course, but they look good with my new SLR camera.


Jenster and I left last Tuesday early in the morning and decided to get all our long traveling over with right away. When we arrived in San Francisco, two and a half hours late, we drove straight for Yosemite. We then spent the next three days hiking and enjoying the beautiful scenery around us. We even got to see a bear and coyote. I couldn't capture the bear fast enough and I was a little scared it may come to attack us.

The next two days, Saturday & Sunday, were spent in Sacramento. We went to a wedding for a friend of Jenster and toured Old Sacramento. It ended up Jenster and I bought way too much taffy while at a candy store. I'm still eating taffy today.

Sunday night we got into San Francisco where we spent two days. We hit up all the big landmarks in San Fran except the Ghiradeli store. I don't like chocolate and Jenster bought different chocolate at a store she likes better, See's.









As you can tell it was a packed trip that was never dull and I hope you enjoy all the pictures. At least I know Teed will, he likes pictures more than the text.

I flew across the country; I must not have a baby on board.

Little Miracle

As I promised I am writing one final blog before I head off to California in the morning. I should be finalizing my packing, but what the hey why not blog instead. This will have to satisfy you for over a week since I won't be back in Ohio until next Wednesday evening.

So lets get into the weekend....Friday was a day off for me and I spent it going to lunch with my sister, to pick up some clothes I wanted to borrow, and dropping some lunch off to Ando while I waited for a dub to be finished. I needed something dubbed for work so I asked Ando to do it for me and he obliged. After finishing up with Ando I came home to work in the yard a little. I also needed to clean the house, but it was supposed to rain on Saturday so I figured I could clean the house then.

That night Mo had graduation and Jenster was getting her hair cut by her sister. I wanted it to be a pretty low key night since we just had two bar nights in a row and we did with a grill out between the three of us, Teed, Ando & I. Everyone went home early as well.

I was awoken Saturday morning by the sound of my phone ringing. It was my parents telling me they had some bad news about the reception hall we picked. They went out to put the deposit down on the hall, that we were told was available May 16, but when they got there the guy told them it was all booked. Why would he tell us it was available numerous times when clearly it wasn't. Why can't people be more organized and know what it going on? Ando and I had to go back out to look at another place they have on the property that is older and stands alone. This is not what I had planned for my Saturday at all. I wanted to clean the house, but I guess not.

When we got out there we had to wait for the guy to show us the place for quite some time. By this point I was so annoyed with the whole situation I just wanted to get it over with. There were some differences between the two places, but what were we going to do at this point. It wasn't bad enough to start the whole reception shopping process over again. We decided to go with the place and make the best of the situation and what we have. No comments on how bad this place it, we will class it up a little to make it perfect. There is a little patio outside that a few people at a time can enjoy. We are going to put some tables and decorations out there as well. I hope some people use this area.

After a crazy morning that I wasn't prepared for I did get some cleaning in before having to head to work. I hate working Saturday nights and don't know how much longer I can take this situation. I hope we hire a part-timer soon so I won't have to work so many Saturday nights. I didn't even do anything on Saturday night because I was so frustrated with work. Ando did make me play a little Grand Theft Auto IV on the new XBox 360 so I got to beat a few people up and run over them with my car. Who knows I may even stick with it and have a little fun playing a completely ridiculous game.

Sunday Jenster, Ando and I had planned on going on a bike ride at Miami Whitewater. We got to the park around 11:15 and headed for the 8 mile loop. Well, actually Jenster had to go to the bathroom first. And then Ando put sunscreen on so he needed to wash his hands. I felt like I was on an outing with my kids. Just kidding guys!

No one wanted to lead the pack so I took it upon myself. I don't know if I went too slow for everyone, but no one else wanted to lead so it was the pace we had. When we finished Jenster had a message on her phone from Teed about them heading to the hospital. Ando and Jenster couldn't get signal in the park so I called Teed on my phone. Mo's water had broken earlier in the morning so they headed to the hospital to have a child. Teed had frantically set up the crib in the babies room and put some sheet on, but that is all that got accomplished before they went to the hospital. Nothing like waiting till the last minute.

The three of decided to head to Mo and Teed's house to try and set up a few more things for them so they wouldn't have so much to do when they got home. I felt like we couldn't do as much as I wanted, but I also didn't want to step on any toes and set things up wrong or not how they wanted. I guess any little bit helps right. Sorry, guys if we over stepped or you don't like how we set up the rest of the furniture or divided the baby clothes and supplies.

Little baby Taca was born around 9:30 pm, 6 Lbs. 3 oz., I guessed it wouldn't be till 10 am the next day, Jenster had 3 am and Ando was the closest with 11 pm that same day. Teed called to tell us just before I left for my soccer game. I wasn't in the mood to go to the game, but went anyway. It ended up being a good game because we won 7-0. I also won't be able to go to the next two games because I'll be out of town this week and at a graduation party the next.

It was a fun weekend, except for the work part, and a little one joined our world, three and a half weeks early. I hope you all enjoy the pictures of Taca and me holding my first baby. Yes, I held Taca everyone and didn't even drop her.

I got to hold a baby for the first time; No little one on the way for me.

Bars

I left off on Tuesday so that is where I will pick it back up. Nothing happened on Tuesday; I went to work in the evening for a Trustees Meeting. There was also no working out in the morning because I was too worn out from the day before.

Wednesday was of course another evening shoot, oh how I am sick of working at night, and Ice and Joel were in town for her sister's wedding. They wanted to go to the bar so Teed, Ando and I met them at Gaslight after I got off work. It was good to hang with some new people, no offense Teed, Mo and Jenster, and have some new things to talk about. Wednesday also happened to be Mo's sister's birthday and Teed wanted to go meet her at the bar she was at. I really didn't want any part of this so I parted ways with the rest of the bunch. I did manage to get a few more wedding magazines and books from Ice before I left. And it just so happens that in one of the magazines were a few pictures of people I knew; how bizarre.

Thursday, sorry I am trying to get in a bunch of blogging before I leave for California on Tuesday, was another night out at the bar. This time we went to The Gypsy Hut. When people are in from out of town you have to get in as much partying as possible. This time Dr. Wint came as well. We got to sit, or should I say stand, outside on a nice night too. Some good stuff happened while we were standing outside too.

First Ando and I started talking about how we joined Netflix and Dr. Wint was asking what this "thing" called Netflix was. We couldn't believe he didn't know what it was, but were taken aback a little more when he then said he also had no idea what this thing called the Wii was. I think Dr. Wint just crawled out from under a rock. And here is the picture to prove this is where he resides. I guess you lose touch with reality once you turn the ripe old age of 33.

Then the best story of all happens. I don't even know if I can do it justice in this blog. It is almost one of those things that you had to be there to see. Two girls walked up to us asking if anyone had a light. Joel of course did so we pointed her in his direction. This should have been the end of our conversation, but unfortunately it wasn't. She decided to stick around and tell me her life story about how she moved to New York when she was 17, right after 9/11, with only $80. She hated her parents and school, so left to be on her own. Why do I need to know all of this? Then she found some great opportunities and met her husband back stage at a Michael Kors show. He is foreign, not sure from where, and now she has to go in front of INS to legitimize their relationship. She can't wait to show them how much they are in love and that the relationship is real. Oh and she wants to become a lawyer to help those who can't afford one. She just wants to help people. This was way more info than I needed to know, but apparently she didn't see it that way. This whole story ended up coming back to a show going on in Hyde Park for an artist, Bob London, at a Chinese Restaurant. She wanted all of us to come because we are hip and arty and not snobby and old like the Hyde Park crowd. Really we were the only ones at the bar for her to try and get to come to this show.

This girl was a bit overwhelming for me, but her friend was very nice. She was way more understated and even said that her friend talks too much. She also didn't give me her life story without me asking. Her friend was even younger though, only 21, so we were all feeling a bit old. Needless to say this whole ordeal made us all leave the bar. We needed to leave because that was the only way out of the conversation. What a weird night especially for a Thursday. Of course the evening ended up in the White Castle drive thru. Only the boys got something, I of course ordered nothing as I normally do at White Castle.

I will write about the weekend tomorrow before I head off to marry Jenster in California; thank goodness it was legalized right before we leave.

Two nights in a row of drinking; pretty obvious there is no baby on board.