monster mash at castle grayskull

for our first party at castle grayskull, and considering that we have lived here for about three months, we had a blast saturday night. i revived slash and dr. wintermute went as cyndi lauper. i even took 2nd place in the costume contest--the cheese was the runaway winner as pregnant brittney.

i'm particularly proud of my pumpkin carving skills. i rocked a pretty intricate darth vader.

lots of pics, however, we can't find the damn usb cable for our camera! will post as soon as possible.

grand salami

jd drew is the man. grand salami in the first inning last night puts the sox up four runs and they never looked back. mpg and j-knee, along with shan de la shan and his lady were in effect at fenway last night, too. tonight is game seven.

sitting on the plane right now, about to head for atl for a few days. just spent the weekend in charlottesville with the in-laws, j-town and the cheese. two nights on an air mattress, but my back is holding up ok. we'll see how it does after today's three hour car ride back to dc and then two hour flight. got to see the grounds, as the uva campus is affectionately known.

our favorite holiday is approaching. was hoping the mpg and j-knee would be able to join us, but it's not in the cards. j-town and the cheese are, which is great. i've been obsessively checking our evite, and have to admit, that the rsvp list is looking a bit light in the 'yes' column. we're still trying to finalize our costumes. finalists in the running:

1. being david bowie from four different eras. entails teaming up with the chief and chief chick.
2. being madonna from four different eras. still need to find another couple to do this one.
3. reprising slash (me). not sure what dr. wintermute would do.
4. janis and jimi.

stay tuned.

another awesome town resident

momma cass is in town. turns out she's interviewing up here for a position at the same large research institution where dr. w is doing her fellowship. having half of the enemy of my enemy is my friend crew up here would be great.

last night, she met up with the chief, chief chick, dr. w and me. she relayed that she was telling some of the folks she met during the day that she had friends here. when they asked where her friends lived, she said that she couldn't quite remember the name, but that her friends called it awesometown.

i love it.

trying to seeing michael clayton this weekend. lots of great reviews. however, the chief calls it 'erin brockavich' for guys. well, i really liked that movie anyway.

hoping to spend some time relaxing and seeing my grandmother and mom's family this weekend. gotta head to atl on monday.

roxy

last weekend j-town and the cheese, stayed with us. having dr. w's brother and his fiancee nearby in virginia is great. we've gotten to hang out a bunch of times, and i'm excited (and honored) that dr. wintermute and i will both be in their wedding parties next summer.

we were celebrating j-town's birthday, which included a lot of sight-seeing and nice gourmet cookout by dr. wintermute. over the course of the weekend, we were also hosting their new doggie, roxy. now, i could sense when i walked in the door friday night after being on the road all week, that dr. w, j-town, and the cheese were collectively holding their breath. i have a bit of reputation for not being a big dog person. some of that reputation was deserved and some of it not. just to clear the record:

1. i'm not afraid of dogs
2. dogs do make me a bit anxious
3. i don't love dogs
4. but that doesn't mean i dislike them

now, admittedly, i foster some of my reputation. i make fun of myself and exaggerate the degree to which dogs are man-eaters. i also have a tendency to bag on dog-owners who don't respect public spaces. there are leash laws for a reason. sure, you find your dog adorable, and there's less than a 1% chance the dog will bite, much less snip at anyone else. in your own backyard, let your dog run free. at the park, keep him on the leash.

anyway, i'm fine with dogs. i think some folks mistake my lack of wrestling with dogs, letting them lick my face, or talking in baby voice means i'm a cold-hearted bastard. sorry to disagree, but that's not the case.

anyway, i walk in the door, and meet roxy. no big deal. i think they're shocked that i don't spit and scream. the weekend is fine. having a dog around is fine. i'll admit, i didn't have to any of the hardwork (e.g., walking the dog at 8:00 am). i'm happy to have roxy at our place anytime.

fruit harvest

i've blogged many times about my love for the greatest cereal on earth, fruit harvest.

sadly, last year, i found out that kellogg was discontinuing the line.

my taste buds were temporarily revived when dr. w and i found that grocery stores in the cayman islands still carried it.

two nights ago, dr. wintermute came home with two boxes of it! she found two of the last boxes in production at snider's grocery store.

i've been eating cereal a few times a day ever since. in fact, each morning, one of my first thoughts is the delectable delight of crunchy and sweet fruit harvest.

can't escape the nati

for the second monday in a row, i've found myself in my hometown. ok, across the river from it, as the cincinnati airport is actually in kentucky. anyway, being here reminds me of a good joke from my childhood:

a guy from kentucky (that's who guys from southern ohio make fun of. kentuckians make fun of west virginians) walks into the drugstore. "excuse me," he asks the lady behind the register.

"yes, how can i help you?" she smiles at him.

"well," he drawls, "i'm here shopping for a christmas gift for my cousin. i'm driving across the river to spend the holiday with his family."

the lady looks at him. "ok, well, do have have something in mind?"

"sure do," the fine lad from kentucky replies. "see, i really like the kentucky jelly you sell here. i was telling my cousin about how good it tastes on my toast every morning, and was wondering if you sell any OH jelly?"

can't escape the nati. next stop: the show-me state.