Day Date

Yesterday, J and J went to a 5 hour drop-off party at Boomers in Irvine.  Me and the missus were freeeeeeee.  We started off at one of our favorite ol' haunts - The Cannery (we miss you, Boatie!).  And what do you know...it was happy hour.  A beer and a few sushi rolls later, we headed to Javier's for a margarita, complimentary chips, and a shared crab enchilada.  Yum.  But wait - there's more.  The night was topped by a decadent butter cake at Maestro's...  Now that's OC living, baby.

Saturday, here in the park...

Happy National Dog Day

Sure, he looks all innocent...but for National Dog Day, he celebrated by attacking a bag of goldfish pretzels and a CapriSun....respect the pouch!

Joshie the Sailor Man

Josh, at Sailing Club, sailed his first solo mission.  It was  "young man and the sea."  It was way cool watching him dock by himself.  First, the bay; next, the world.  We celebrated with Gina's pizza, yum.

Aloha Walpahu

Goodbye Derrek Lee - You deserved better

So long to the consummate professional.  A real class act.  An all round decent player.  Way better than Mark Grace or Leon Durham.  That said, it was time to go.  Injury plagued and past his prime, the Flubbies picked up 3 pitching prospects - a good move.  We'll miss you, though.  And, at least you could have gone to the Angels instead of the braves.  All of my other favorite ex-cubbies are on the west coast.  Now, if we could just unload Z, keep Rami happy (and healthy), and promote Ryno already!

Oh, the inhumanity....

Left work early (no loss), to head to the beach with the family during the 1 of 3 warm days we've actually had this summer.  We procured picnic supplies from Bay Cities Deli (yay, The Godmother - what a hero), and proceeded to freeze while eating along the beach.  Needless to say the water was a wee bit chilly.  The kids, finally, rose to the occasion and put their MB boogie boarding skills to work.  We did see a porpoise feeding frenzy (and didn't have to pay for a boat ride), a sea lion surfing the breakers, and a sand crab (no,not my wife, ba dum bum).

List monday - oh, the humidity

It's not the heat, it's the stupidity.  Top synonyms for humid:

1. damp
2. clammy
3. dank
4. moist
5. mucky
6. muggy
7. oppressive
8. sticky
9. stifling
10. soggy
11. sultry
12. sweaty
13. sweltering
14. dripping
15. heavy

Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air. Relative humidity is defined as the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapor in a parcel of air to the saturated vapor pressure of water vapor at a prescribed temperature. Humidity may also be expressed as specific humidity. Relative humidity is an important metric used in forecasting weather. Humidity indicates the likelihood of precipitation, dew, or fog. High humidity makes people feel hotter outside in the summer because it reduces the effectiveness of sweating to cool the body by reducing the evaporation of perspiration from the skin. This effect is calculated in a heat index table.

Oh, the humanity...

So, far from home, visiting sweaty Myrtle Beach, we retreat to my brother's condo for lunch after fun beachin' and pooling.  We're eating murkey sandwiches and the kids are eating PB&J's, enjoying the company of the Jareds.  All of a sudden, we hear a panicked cry from the corner.  We look over to see blood spewing from Jillian's mouth.  Well, not really spewing, more like a spot.  Our 7 year old, last of all her friends, finally lost her first tooth, after having a wiggler for several weeks.  She seemed more scared than excited.  She was a little nervous that the tooth fairy wouldn't find her while on vacation.  I said, "what's a tiny tooth like that worth anyway, a quarter?"  Daughter responds, "No way, 10 to 20 bucks!"  I said, " no way, I've heard of the rare tooth that might fetch a dollar, now and then."  Needless to say, the next morning their was $10 under her pillow and a type written note from the fairy, which was astounding because we had no typewriter or printer.  My baby, the toothless wonder, is all growed up.

Carolina on my mind...

The highlights:

• cool cross-country flight where I got to watch Crazy Heart and It's Complicated- which was crazy good and not that complicated (or good), respectively
• long delay in Atlanta due to underwater-like levels of humidity
• ripped off by Cabbie from airport, $27 for 2 miles, cause you can't get a car at 2 a.m.
• gross Sheraton, luckily only spent 6 hours there
• Poogan's Porch for breakfast in Charleston - good biscuits & gravy and she-crab soup
• walked around town before becoming totally soaking wet
• drove through scenic hillbilly country (do I hear banjo's?) to get to Myrtle Beach, traffic not too bad
• Sheraton was very nice...2 bedroom, screened in porch (not that you could go out there).  ghost person on the window, lol
• Carolina Roadhouse for dinner - decent.  Walked Broadway at the Beach, took kids on rides.
• Met the Jareds at their condo.  Beach (soft sand & warm, gentle rollers), pool and lunch in the condo.
• The Jareds came to our condo, beach and pool.
• good dinner at Liberty's at B at the B with Jareds
• MB Pelican's minor league baseball game
• Took SeaThunder boat ride out to NC shore to see dolphins
• Mini-golf with Jareds at Hawaiian Rumble - they won, good ice cream, saw birds
• crappy dinner at House of Blues with Jareds (update:  j&j actually liked their hob meal), after shortest parade ever at Barefoot Landing, saw turtles
• Murrell Inlet for beach and ok lunch at scenic Drunken' Jacks
• more beach (lots o' boogie boardin'), more mini-golf, Crabby Mike's seafood buffet (lots o' crab)
• back to Charleston, stayed at Aloft (cool), and had awesome meal at Buccaneer
• caught in a hurricane (not really), trapped at Chik-fil-a
• did I mention the ridiculous humidity...
• great time hangin' with the Jareds
• home to our beach...

Here Myrtle, Myrtle, Myrtle....

Another day at the beach...

Turn those machines back on...

"It's not funny, it's angry time!"

Least Monday

Least favorite:

• month:  february
• sport:  soccer
• Grateful Dead song:  Truckin'
• city:  Detroit
• color:  yellow
• fruit:  watermelon
• Neil Diamond song:  Turn on your heartlight
• vegetable:  cauliflower
• flower:  carnations
• Late night tv host:  Leno
• Frank Sinatra song:  Send in the clowns
• circus performer:  clowns
• ice cream flavor:  chocolate
• day:  least monday

Cali Cuisine

Just got back from taking the family to my new favorite OC restaurant:  Nick's.  Had the ribeye melt.  Tres bien.  It's good to have the wife and kids back from the Land of Plenty.  They literally ate their way from Midway to Milwaukee and back again.  It was sad and lonely while they were gone.  Did get to spend some quality eating time with my P's to ease the solitude.  Now, it's back to the grind...until our next, upcoming adventure...