I went to Lake of the Ozarks this weekend with my girlfriend. It was a perfect weekend to visit her dad. The weather was great and there was a lot of action due to the Shootout being a couple miles from his cove.

The weekend was a relaxing time where we ate a ton of food. We got the same delicious pizza on Friday night that we got last time we were down in which I ate twice as much as I should have. We had a huge fried fish dinner Saturday and I ate KFC buffet for lunch on Sunday. I have been wanting KFC for weeks after passing it numerous times on my various weekend get aways. We also had B&G’s both mornings. Needless to say, I got to hit the gym hard this week…lol.

We went fishing Saturday morning. We at least cost something this time but no keepers. I caught a small 12″ bass that was a borderline keeper so we threw it back. We hung out in the cove most of the afternoon but did go for a boat ride. We hit up one other cove and looked at the race. The picture above is a picture from pretty far away. There was a no wake zone forever so we did not go all the way down. There was a huge amount of boats if you can not tell. We were told that it might be the busiest weekend on the lake. All I can say is that I want a boat on the Lake more than ever. I just love going for boat rides. I can so see myself owning a place down there in 5 years.

True Blood was very interesting Sunday night. I almost felt like that could have been the season finale. That seems to be True Blood’s thing. I am pretty sure that I remember them bringing a conclusion to the major plot line right at the beginning of the last episode last season. This time they just did it at the end of the second to last episode. It’s going to be a slow next episode in my opinion but a very good season so I am happy.

This was definitely a weekend where I did not get any sleep. I feel like I might have gotten a total of 8 hours between Friday and Saturday. Very disappointing since I was just coming off a sinus infection in which I was feeling very exhausted.

I went to the Cards game on Friday night. The Cards were in a huge slump and totally at the wrong time. The slump did not end for us this game either. The highlight of the night was my friend Matt eating a bacon wrapped hot dog covered in baked beans, fried onions, and pickle spears. It was pretty funny watching him eat it for the mere fact that he told us that he was cutting high sodium items out of his diet earlier in the night. We left the game a little earlier since we saw the storms rolling in so watched the rest of the game from Paddy O’s basement. The place was not as packed as normal after the game. I am guessing because of the storm front. The people who did not show up were smart because the rain and wind was pretty bad. Basically everyone under the tent got a little wet.

I woke up bright and early Saturday morning for a friend’s wedding in Muscatine, Iowa. It was for one of my friend’s from Wash U and I was really looking forward to hanging out with the group. Thus we made the 4+ plus hour trip in the morning rather than go up the night before like some of the group did. We arrived around 1 to play a little Uno and have some tasty beverages from Mike’s new employer before going to the 5Pm wedding. The wedding was pretty cool. The reception was awesome. The food was great….had a terrific piece of steak and chicken. I also loved that there was both a live band and a DJ so there was a good mix. The band even mixed in some Katy Perry so they knew what the kids liked…lol. The band also played till 1AM and they had a midnight snack of pizza planned at midnight which was awesome. A bunch of the wedding party went back to my room after the night to indulge in a fine selection of more pizza, Taco Bell, and McDonald’s.

Not much happened on Sunday. Got back in the early evening and watched some TV and caught up on the DVR. I watched Big Lake and wasn’t impressed but I will still watch a couple more episodes to give it a chance. True Blood was awesome as it always is. A little disappointed that there is only two more episodes left. It seems like the season just started. I also watched the Big C. It was entertaining and will make my tv viewing lineup.

• I am really torn about getting a new Blackberry. The Torch obviously has to be better than my first generation Blackberry Bold 9000 but the idea that it is not on the 1 GHz processor level and updated screen is not very appealing for a phone that I will probably have for another 2 years. I might hold out to see if Blackberry makes any new releases for the Bold.
• I think I am at the point where I am going to buy a media server. I want to be able to play music on my home theater system from my PC. Know of any good ones? I am tired of listening to my PC two rooms away when having parties.
• I have another weekend of being out of town. I am really looking forward to hanging out with the Wash U crowd for Ann’s wedding but also really want to sleep in since I am recovering from a sinus infection. Unfortunately that is not possible.
• I do not know what to think of the Cardinals. They seem to make a lot of costly errors, their hitters are not dependable (besides Pujols and Holliday), and the relief pitching is very shaky. I do not think we can rely on Wainright and Carpenter carrying us in the playoffs (if we even make it there).
• This summer’s cable show TV lineup has been pretty good. True Blood has been pretty awesome. They really made this year interesting although it is a little more disturbing than past years. Entourage has also been good. Throwing as many celebrities as they can in an episode seems to work. I am also interested in seeing the storyline for Weeds this series. Looks like they are moving again based on the Series opener.
• Lost Season 6 comes out next Tuesday. It is supposed to have a lot of extra scenes for the last episode. I’ve already moved Disc 5 to the top of my Netflix queue.
• Am I going to buy Halo Reach and Civilization 5 in September? I have not been playing games at all since coming back from Chile but I know I am getting Civ 5 and will be playing it a ton. I will only buy Reach if a bunch of my friends do so I can play them online.

My girlfriend and I made an amazing pizza this week. Thought I would share some of the pictures and ingredients.

Ingredients

1. 12″ Boboli original pizza crust
2. Ragu pizza sauce
3. onion slivers
4. green pepper slivers
5. pizza seasoning
6. Kraft pizza cheese
7. pepperoni
8. sausage
9. real bacon
10. banana peppers
11. jalapeños

As you can see from the list and the pictures we had quite a list. We basically put on the sauce then cheese then meat then veggies with another thin layer of cheese to hold everything down.

Here is the final product before cooking.

Here is the final product after cooking. We cooked it for 10 minutes on the middle rack at 450 degrees. All I can say is that it was pretty awesome. Might have been the best pizza that I have ever had. The next time I might add a little more sauce and cheese but it was still very delicious. We might also buy fresh dough on the Hill just to see the difference.

I was sick this weekend so sort of laid low. I went to Molly’s for my grandmother’s bday on Friday evening then made my way back to my place to relax. Molly’s new expansion was interesting but I was not impressed with the food. I can not see me going back. I closed on the night with some GTL action on MTV (aka Jersey Shore).

Saturday was the Kick Ball for a Cause tournament. I was not looking forward to it at all. I was feeling horrible and  it was supposed to be 100 degrees. I was also told that this team had never won a game in the last 2 or 3 years so did not know what to expect. Needless to say we were awesome. I set the bar high by scoring our first run by kicking a home run. I also made our team’s only double play so I called myself the MVP. My girlfriend even drove me in on a homerun so I was impressed. We won our first four games and advanced to the playoffs. We had a big inning in our first playoff game and won. We lost in the semi-finals. It was our first game on a dirt infield and our players were having troubles adjusting. We made a ton of errors and none of our good hitters could make contact. It was sad to lose but we were all feeling pretty bad after being in the heat for so long. I actually wouldn’t mind playing kickball again. It was really fun. We tried to watch Hot Tub Time Machine that night but it froze up after 5 mins on Charter on Demand and never worked that night.

We finally got to watch Hot Tub Time Machine on Sunday. It was funny but I thought it got good reviews and can not see how that is possible. Besides that, I did not do much. Ran some errands, made some delicious sirloin kabobs, and watched my Sunday night TV shows, along with catching up with 3 weeks of weekend wrap ups.

Last weekend was my annual guys trip to Spring Lake and Lake Michigan for the weekend. I skipped out on the stop in Chicago this year. I hear it was a blast though. They went to Wrigleyville and the Cubs were playing the Brew Crew. There were some pretty crazy stories. Instead, Mike, Troy, and I drove up Thursday afternoon and got in late that night. We tried to meet our friends at a beer tent but it was shutting down right when we got there so we went to Tip-a-Few. It was the only late night bar and it was the first time I have been there. They had cheap $2 beers so it was fun.

The trip was also different from the last two year because we could not go (nor did we really want to) go fishing on Lake Michigan because the waves were really high. The major benefit was that we got a lot more sleep. Normally we don’t get a lot of sleep the Chicago night or the pre fishing night so we always start the trip pretty tired. This benefit made a world of difference because I was able to stay strong all day Friday. We went to “the beach” finally on Friday.  This is a big deal because we have only talked about it the previous 3 other times I have gone but have never even attempted it. Needless to say it was awesome. The beach was packed and full of activities like sand volleyball and football. The only bad part was that the water was cold but we were told it was actually pretty warm for Lake Michigan. Once we got back, we grilled one of the many hamburgers I ate on the trip. I probably ate about 5 pounds of hamburger in 3 days. Not complaining because it was delicious but probably not good for me. We went out to Kirby’s that night. It was probably the best time I have ever had there. The band was awesome and I wasn’t super tired so danced a ton. The only problem was getting a cab back but that is always horrible to do. We hung around at a food stand an hour or two before we finally got a cab.

Saturday is the day to be at the Hanky Pank. After devising a plan to get around a boat issue, we finally made the cove around 1 to 2. The weather was perfect and the water was warm, unlike last year. We got an awesome spot in line where we had boats on 3 sides of us. It was a ton of fun hanging out with the guys. We went back to the clubhouse around 6 to grill some more. I was cashed out so decided not to go out with the group (two other guys felt the same way). Instead, I watched the fireworks pool side and enjoy a relaxing evening (without humidity).

We went back to the cove  on Sunday. There was only 5 boat out there at 2PM. We decided to anchor and listen to tunes and relax. There was a line about 10 boats by the time we left but we never joined in. That night we went to Grand Rapids like we unusually do. We stayed in a very swank JW Marriott that was right next to The BOB. We pregamed to a little Hall of Fame Game which was fun to see NFL again. We then went to Crush in the BOB. It was empty when we got there so we went to the rooftop to enjoy a drink. We  went back down to find it insanely packed. It was too much for some of us so we went to other bars only to find them completely empty so we made our way back. No matter what, I had fun this night too which is a first for our annual trip. Normally I am so tired but my strategy really helped. We did have a weird experience where the new hotel tested its back up generators at 2AM. Power was out for 2 hours so no AC. We complained enough so they gave us 4 passes for breakfast. You would think they would have tested it around checkout time.

The much hyped Vegas trip has concluded which brings an end to what some of my friends have refereed to as Ericapalooza or the month of Eric. The Vegas trip went very well. There was a little worrying about bringing that many people together and wanting to do different things but everything work out.

We arrived Thursday afternoon, checked into our hotel at Mandalay Bay, then headed to the Mirage to pick up our tickets for Beatles Love. We wandered around the hotel and eventually made our way into the Venetian where we wandered around some more and picked a place to eat at the Grand Lux Café. This was the first of many delicious meals. Unlike my past Vegas personal trips, this was a trip where we ate pretty well instead of eating $1 double cheeseburgers from McDonalds. I had the Crispy Caramel Chicken and Shaking Beef combination plate with rice. It was delicious and I only could eat about half. We went to Beatles Love after dinner. I really did not know what to expect. A bunch of my colleagues had seen it and loved it. I have only been to one Vegas shows in all my trips and it was to see the Blue Man Group. I enjoyed it and had awesome seats but was also glad that the seats were given to me because I do not think they were worth the $150 price tag. All I can say is Beatles Love blew my expectations out of the water. The show was amazing. Well worth the $100 to $150 ticket (we got ours for free). The show was constant action and stimulation. It makes me want to now go and see the other Cirque du Soleil shows. We followed that up with a quick and only stop to my favorite cheap beer place of Casino Royale. We met up with another couple there then went to Freemont Street to meet the rest of the group. In all honesty, I was not impressed with Freemont St. It was cool seeing all the old casinos but its allure wore off in about 5 minutes. I was expecting more from the overhead screen. With that said, I would recommend it to anyone who has not seen it but I wouldn’t make a night out of it.

Friday was the big day with all the events. I had a huge omelet at Raffles Café in the morning. The $25 restaurant.com deal paid off and as our meal for two was still $20’s after the $25 coupon. We then hit up the cabana that we rented for the day. We had a lot of choices amongst the 5+ pools and I think we made the best choice. The size and location was perfect. It was well worth what we paid for it. It had a tv in it (which allowed us to watch the Cards lose to the Cubs), a safe, and frig along with chairs and a table. Another perk (which we did not realize till the next day) was that we had multiple waitress/waiters for us which made it easy to get drinks. The drinks were expensive but worth it. We ordered a lot of fruity drinks, food, and buckets and I was dreading the bill. I was pleasantly surprised because the bill was only half what I was expecting. We really lucked out because I know there were numerous buckets and other items missing. After the pool action was the planned group bday dinner at Rum Jungle. This was my pick and I read some pretty awesome reviews and the prices were good. All the guys got the Rodizio. It is basically all you can eat meat and sides. Meetza, as my friends call it, included beef sirloin, turkey breasts, pork, chicken, chorizo, lamb, and beef tri-tip. It was delicious. Probably the best meal I have ever eaten. All the meats had delicious rubs and seasonings. We just kept eating and eating. For those not familiar with Brazilian, they basically walked around the restraint cutting off chucks of the meat at your table off a slab skewered with a sword….pretty freaking cool. The only bad part was the bill. The waitress said that she could split it but obviously couldn’t. It took her over an hour just to bring back the split bill and took another hour plus to pay after I specifically told her we were missing items but she said we were okay then came back saying we were short. Needless to say I paid for 3 meals, filed a credit card dispute, and finally had them take one charge off after three calls. At least we got a free round of drinks and a good story. We stayed there once the club opened but the place was pretty empty and did not have the top dance floor open. We walked over to one of the bars in the casino that had a big dance floor. It was playing some good songs but we left after 15 minutes because we were exhausted.

On Saturday we walked around the strip. It was pretty exhausting. It was hot but I never did sweat. Someone told me that is because it evaporates before you realize it. On the way back, we realized that the new City Center has a free tram from Bellagio to Monte Carlo then we hopped the free tram from Excalibur to Mandalay Bay so we had an easy way back. We chilled at a different pool off the beating path when we got back which was relaxing. We followed that up with a delicious hamburger at Red, White, and Blue. Josh got the biggest hamburger I had ever seen. Saturday was also our big clubbing night where we were meeting the bachelorette party of my other friends. The chose Haze which is a new club in Aria. We got there super early so we did not have to wait in line (long). We waited about an hour since the place wasn’t even open when we got there at 10:15PM. The place was okay but it definitely was not up to par with other big Vegas clubs. Also, paying $7 for a small glass of water or soda was ridiculous.

Sunday was our departure day. I had another delicious omelet in the The Cafe in THEHotel. We paid another $25 after $25 off from the restaurant.com deal. Everyone else had an early flight where we had the latest flight so we wandered around to the Luxor and also checked out the aquarium in our hotel. It was pretty neat and larger than I expected but the $20 price tag is pretty steep. Overall it was an excellent birthday and trip.

So my driver side window in my car as been acting weirdly. Basically it has not been working in the afternoons and nights. I am guess from the heat. Its a big pain when you have to go in and out of a garage where you need to roll down your window to use your keyfob. I took my car in this morning to Plaza Lexus in St Louis. They gave me a loaner car like they always do. I walked out of the service bay with the service writer looking for the loaner car. The porter said it was one of the three cars in front of the building. We couldn’t find it so asked the porter. He said it was the one we were in front of even though my key said 3 and this one was 13. It started right up with the keyless ignition fob in my hand so I didn’t think anything. The gas also matched what my paperwork said which was between 1/2 and a 1/4 so I assumed this was it.  I drove away and hopped on I-270. I noticed that I had a bunch of alerts. The first two being oil change and filter needed. Thought this was pretty weird being its a dealers car. The third one said “no key.” I immediately moved the key closer but assumed that the diagnostic screen was messed up since I was now 5 miles away from the dealer and the car started. I got to my office after a 30 minute drive then tried to lock the car with the key fob. It wouldn’t lock. I then tried to start it and it did not. Looks like I did have the wrong car. So how did the thing start the first time. Either the porter had the key in his pocket or even scarier possibility is that the car was close enough to the office that it picked up the key fob. We were probably 15 or 20 ft away so not sure the range. What is scary about that is what if that was your unlocked car in your driveway. A kid or a thief could go start your car while you were watching TV in the house. Why did the car not shut down once out range of the car? Pretty odd.

This week was round one of my birthday month spectacular according to some of my friends since I met with one group of friends at Parties in the Park on Wednesday and another group on Friday. Next weekend will be the grand spectacular in Vegas Baby!

My girlfriend threw me a party on Friday for my 30^th Birthday. It was pretty awesome. She went all out and got me a great cake from McArthur’s Bakery.  We ate delicious party pizzas, quesadillas, and other snacks while playing Rock Band and conversing. We followed it up with a night at Rue 13 for my favorite 80’s night. It was basically a perfect night. I had so much fun with my girlfriend and other friends. Many thanks to all that wished me a happy birthday and celebrated with me. This is probably the most I have done for a bday ever but I really do not feel any different. Being 30 isn’t depressing like some people have told me. It’s actually a little exciting because I feel like it’s the next chapter in my life.

I chilled at a friend’s pool in JeffCo all day on Saturday relaxing. We have been hitting up a lot of pools this summer and it makes me realize more and more that my next house must have a pool. My girlfriend joked though that she didn’t think she would ever get any work done around the house if she had a pool because she would constantly be in it. After the pool, we hit up West County mall to do some much needed shopping for Vegas and Wedding cloths (got two in the next couple months).

Sunday was a mix of all kinds of stuff. It was supposed to be a “working around the house day” but it was rainy when I woke up. Thus, my girlfriend and I went for another round of shopping. By the time we were done, it was hot and dry outside so we started the yard work. The big project was dethatching my girlfriend front yard. The Zoysia grass was getting so thick that it was killing itself. TruGreen recommended raking out all the dead grass so it could breathe. We were comically doing this with a metal kids rake for 30 minutes before we decided to go buy a “Big Boy” rake. The funny think is that the kids rake was easier since it wasn’t as wide so it did not require as much force. It was pretty grueling work so I hope it helps. We both got blisters on our hands and a good workout. We filled up a huge yard bag of dead grass in a relatively small front year so I was surprised. We finished the night watching our Sunday TV shows. All I have to say is that I really like True Blood this season. The story is very unpredictable but believable in a sense which was not the case last year.

This weekend pretty much revolved around our “annual” float trip. I felt like I had been planning this trip for months even though we only started seriously discussing it two weeks ago. The reason it seemed like it took forever because I think about 100 emails were exchanged between where we wanted to stay, who was going, and what we were bringing. The issue we ran into was that most wanted to stay in an air conditioned unit for the night and waiting till two weeks before is not a smart idea.

We finally found a place after calling several campgrounds. The funny thing was that the place we ended up at was our original plan. They had some cancellations that freed up some spots. We chose Ozark Outdoors since we floated with them several times in the past and they are the closest. We had two rafts, 1 canoe, 1 motel room and 1 camp site. We chose a lot longer than usual float  (for some reason) so we were a little worried about doing a 9 mile float. We got there early (or at least some of us). There was no reason to worry because we got done with the float by 5PM which sucked. The water was high and had a decent current so we were just flying down the river. I was hoping to get back around dusk.

We had a lot of float trip “rookies” this year and it definitely showed. I almost thought my girlfriend died after she got swept up by the current under the raft and did not pop up till another 15 feet down the river. It was pretty scary but was out of her control. It was definitely the fastest current I have ever seen on a float trip. Especially in mid July when most of the time you are worried if there is enough water for a raft. Also, a couple of the girls took long naps during the trip. Jello shots are not for everyone…lol.

The water camera was also lost again. This is the second time in three trips so no pictures from the trip. Sorry to Mike. Hopefully it turns up.

The motel was very nice. Having your own shower and bathroom was nice. We were right next to our campsite too which was awesome. Needless to say, I still prefer not staying down the night but staying in the AC is ten times better. I would like to explore the party bus idea where we rent a bus and a driver for the day to drive us down and back. I think the cost would offset what we paid for the cabin and camping.

Not much went on Friday evening and Sunday. I went to my favorite Mexican restaurant again on Friday. We got fake tattoos again for the float trip but the alcohol in the spray sun screen quickly dissolved them. I watched the World Cup on Sunday but was bored with it mainly because I was tired. The game itself seemed very physical and fast paced. A lot of scoring opportunities were missed too. There should have been at least 3 or 4 goals that should have been made.