Thursday, September 30, 2004

¡ya basta!

enough!

i've spent the last ten minutes plowing through a box of Raisin Mini Wheats. i bought five boxes at Big Lots recently...for the miles. yes, the mileage slut is at it again. American Airlines has offered 100 miles on specially selected Kellogg's cereals for the past five years. most of the time, the offer was on the back of Mini Wheats, Product 19, Special K, All Bran, and a couple others.

of course, when lois was on a cereal kick for dinner, we accumulated a few thousand miles over the course of a couple years. and now, since she has sworn off cereal (gee, i wonder why), the Kellogg's bandwagon has screeched to a halt...until this week.

it was just too hard to pass up these boxes since they were short dated (best before 10/31/04) and marked down to a paltry $1.25. if you ask me, 500 miles for $6.25 is a deal. consider this, one of the cheapest fares on American is from Denver to Dallas ($150-$200), which will net 1300 miles on a round trip. by buying cereal even at $4/box, you can get 1500 miles for $60...or $18.75 if you're lurking in the bargain aisles of Big Lots ;) i just wish there were other kinds of cereal with the mileage coupons...

btw, 'ya basta' means 'enough already!' in spanish.

Monday, September 27, 2004

sleepy...

played some ball today...such great weather. strained the right hamstring a bit. yep, the same one that has bothered me all summer. have i stayed off of it one bit? nope. oh well.

took some painkillers that no longer work for lois. i don't recall the name (ultra____), but i think it's a stronger form of acetaminophen. probably won't do anything significant for my pains. however, it did make me feel good for a couple hours after some dinner and a glass of italian red wine at OliveGarden.

yeah, yeah. i know you shouldn't mix drugs with alcohol, but if the pain doesn't subside, at least you can forget about it ;)

it was good to go to the garden. it had been probably at least a couple years since we were there last. don't know why though. the pasta e fagiol soup, salad, breadstix, and our entrees (Tour of Italy [lasagna, chicken parmagiana, and fettucini alfredo] and the three type ravioli) were as good as ever. and the service was even better; a young college student named Brian. we're definitely going to make more of an effort to stop by...

nightynight...

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

too quiet...

around here, don't ya think?

sorry about not keeping up with the posts. i'm just less enthusiastic when it comes to sharing the details of my life, which is pretty mundane at best.

since you're so tired of reading that stupid paper shredder post, i'll fill you in on the last 13 days...

did get a shredder that crosscuts and destroys credit cards - a feature that i totally needed. i think i had stashed around a dozen cards that had either expired or closed accounts. this saved me a lotta scissor cuttin'...

went out to dinner with Yani one last time before she returned to CancĂșn. this time, it was Korean food at Seoul Food (which is considered more Ameri-Korean than traditional) on 6th and Washington. i got my usual, Bi-Bim Bob, which is probably the usual of most non-Korean customers as well. it's a bowl of rice, veggies, meat, a fried egg, a couple fried shrimp, and the omnipresent googeechang sauce (a spicy red paste that you mix into the bowl's ingredients). after a fantastic meal that also included some plum wine and an appetizer of fried mushrooms, we finished off the night with some coffee at Pablo's, which is catty corner to the restaurant. unfortunately, we didn't get to sip our coffee in the comfy confines of their sofa, since we got in right before they closed. so we settled for the bench outside and spent the time reminiscing about her five months here. sigh. we are so going to miss her. ah well. i guess we can wait the nine months until we go to CancĂșn to attend a wedding next june...

last thursday was the rehearsal for the wedding. ha! right. some rehearsal. basically, in the 75 minutes we were there, it was nothing but a once through because the pastor was feeling under the weather. i did glean some two things from the whirlwind rehearsal though. one, the Episcopal church that my sister's now in-laws attend, has phenomenal acoustics. and two, the pastor of the church is nothing but a pompous and arrogant ass who thinks he's so incredibly enlightened and funny as hell. barf. what a jerk! funny that susie and lois feel the same way; the man is simply an insufferable dolt! ugh.

brb

Thursday, September 09, 2004

dead...

my cross-cut shredder has annihilated its last receipt. now it's off to OfficeMax to find another one. although i really like this one, i'll probably save $60 by getting this one instead. i'm just a big fan of the Royal shredders, since the one that died was an older model that lois gave to me about six years ago.

pray that i get out of that store only $30-$40 poorer...so hard to do in any office supply place. it's just so easy to justify why you bought more pens, storage boxes, bookcases...

blistering...

it's kinda hot outside. hotter if you're dressed up for a funeral.

went to the funeral of my friend's grandfather today. he was interred at Ft. Logan, Denver's main military cemetery.

not that many people there, considering he was 87 and had MANY descendants (like eight children, 27 grand..., and 34 great-grand). unfortunately, i think there's a fight brewing amongst his children. the house that he had lived in for forty years, was promised to my friend but was ultimately...rather surreptitiously...stolen from him by his eldest children, who are looking to make a buck off of it. really sad.

i know my friend had already resolved himself to not having the house, which is too small for himself, wife, and two kids; living in Memphis also makes it less logical. however, i know that if the house were his, he'd give it to his mother (who was the last of the eight children). after all, if anyone deserves the house, it's Frances. she had been the main caregiver the last few years and never touched a dime of her father's money...a pretty selfless act considering she was usually broke.

it just makes me mad that there should be any question to what should happen to the house because i know that the people who would appreciate it the most are the ones on the outside looking in... humph* ain't it always that way.

well, Mr. C, i hope that everything works out for the better. i can still hear your voice, see your smile, and recall the images of you landscaping your impeccable lawn. thanks for letting us take your big ol' truck out to shoot pool on sundays, even if we weren't supposed to ;)

Monday, September 06, 2004

one last soak...

the toes aren't looking much better, but they're feeling better. no risk of them falling off either...which is a good thing :)

a somewhat busy weekend. on saturday, made a couple denver omelets for breakfast. for once, we had good omelet ingredients. it seems too often that we're missing one essential item or another whenever we're in the mood for omelets.

that afternoon, dad and i were fitted for the tuxes...a done deal. the people at the Men'sWearhouse in Cherry Creek were very quick and efficient. they should be ready on thursday the 16th, with two days to spare.

saturday was not too exciting though. we had planned on seeing a movie after chowing down at BlackAngus, but were too stuffed to stay awake. we could not believe the heart stopping items that they have for the set dinners. we ordered the flat iron steaks (which are small - 7 oz.), but that also came with the wagon wheel appetizer (fried zucchini, small shrimp cocktail, potato skins, and buffalo tenders) and a HUGE piece of chocolate cake. i'm positive i heard my aorta gurgle a couple times during dinner. they really should include some free defibrillator time...

yesterday was another day of running around. susie, lois, and i had breakfast w/ Yani, who goes back to Cancun on the 15th. we went to the EggShell, where i had some french toast and
some italian sausage. service wasn't stellar though...just better than adequate.

after breakfast, susie left to hang out with andy while we three headed to BestBuy and CircuitCity, to track down a new laptop for Yani. she ended up purchasing a Toshiba for about $1500. it's re-eal nice. she's thrilled about it because it would cost more than $2000 back in mexico; she's gonna be one of the most prepared architects in Cancun with that baby.

with the laptop and goodies in tow, we headed for Taste of CO. geez, it was windy! we scored a nearby free parking space and wandered into the sea of bodies at about 3:00 and didn't leave until about 7:00. yani and lois pretty much hit the majority of the jewelry stands (although you tire of the numerous rasta stands with reggae themed goods - but i guess they're popular). i scoped out a couple photography tents (which either had mediocre landscapes or outrageously overpriced prints). i noticed that there seems to be a small contingency of South American artisans (mainly Ecuadorean and Peruvian) that puts up tents for the taste. good for them. they have some good quality sweaters and unique tablecloths; hope they make a decent profit.

exhausted, we headed back to the house, where lois set up yani's laptop and toyed around with it. we also finished that obscenely sweet BlackAngus chocolate cake...thank god that Yani is a chocoholic.

all in all, a very good day. it's going to be sad when Yani leaves in ten days. she had hoped to stay for another two months, but her old company tracked her down and begged her to come back and offered her more money. they even paid for her return ticket and let her choose the date to start work again. guess ya can't argue that logic... good for you, yani.

tonight? well, we should probably go to the store...i don't think i've made dinner since last tuesday. and for once, i'm not in the mood to go grocery shopping, which i actually love. guess i'd better get hopping...

Friday, September 03, 2004

hmmm...

maybe i should soak more. ever since i decided to plop this tub in front of the computer, i've been one posting fool. sure, no quality...but there's quantity, at least.

any plans for the weekend? no decisions yet...

nothing exciting though. tomorrow, i think dad and i are going to get fitted for susie's wedding. geez, i haven't worn a tux since prom - 1988 and 30 lbs. ago. i wonder what color they chose...

would like to either get to the cheapies this weekend or Lakeside. i know SixFlags at Elitch's is a lot more fun, but we try to go to the 'side once a year, just to ride the train. it's a throwback to my childhood, as well as my siblings'; mom and dad always took us every summer to Lakeside for the train, fun house, bumper cars, and wild chipmunk. i guess i'm just trying to uphold the tradition. besides, you can live the nostalgia at Lakeside, something that disappeared the day Elitch's closed down and moved.

strange to have regular tv this week; the olympix has packed up for Beijing. and everyone, it's pronounced bay-jing...not bay-zhing. it drives me crazy to hear commentators/newspeople mispronounce it and soften the 'j' sound. the J is as hard as this baseball bat that will fall on yer pointy head every time you mess up. you may go now.

missed again...

cindi, which Aurora Fuzzoli's did you go to on wednesday? i was at the one on Parker and Iliff at about 2PM. i'm sure you were still in school, but it would have been some surprise for both of us, eh?

i had never been to that one before. i usually go to the one on Yale and Monaco... still, this other store was really nice...and huge! i wonder what it was before because it has two levels and some really cool windows. was it a restaurant/bar? i was even impressed with the urinals ;) really! they were the old, long kind; reminded me of the ones at Red Rocks.

mmm...Ziti and breadstix!

a little worried...

about my niece, Natalie, who lives near Fort Lauderdale, FL. what's the latest news on Hurricane Frances? i'm glad Charley missed them three weeks ago. i can't imagine what enduring one hurricane, let alone two, would be like.

if it does hit, i just hope that there are few fatalities...and that those bloodsucking looters and price gougers who struck in the aftermath of Charley...sustain some considerable damage themselves. i know i shouldn't be wishing ill will upon anyone, but that small percentage of jerkdom...whatever. isn't the majority of the population screwed after any disaster? why get punched in the face twice? howzabout a little free (or at least fair) cooperation you creeps!

looks like a grape...

has lodged itself underneath my big right toenail. see, i was wearing some comfortable (or so i thought) shoes earlier this week...that inevitably cramped my feet. these are shoes that i took to Spain for three weeks; i think i should retire them. i guess i just thought i had a few good miles in 'em. ah well.

of course, wearing those shoes didn't send me over the edge though. it was wearing my old volleyball shoes for a few matches later that night. i may have already mentioned that i resorted back to wearing shoes (first summer in 17 years) for outdoor games, in an effort to alleviate my ailing right knee and hamstrings.

initially, i thought that i had just sprained them a bit. ha! when the bruise underneath the nail appeared...i knew otherwise.

right now, i am on my second warm epsom salt soak. i'm hoping that a couple soaks will help the blood flow and cleanse some of the icky stuff that has come up. if anything, it's nice to get a 20-minute footie soak, ain't it? footie soaks are not taken seriously enough, if you ask me ;)

so, pass another seedless...