There are so many exciting things to talk about these days so I figured a blog post was due.  I think I could list double the items below since I have so much on my mind but this is a good summary.

• Missouri dominated Texas this week. It has been an insane run the past two months for the Cardinals and it all culminated with a come from behind win against Texas. Missouri took notice and did the same against Texas A&M.
• What to do with Pujols is a very interesting question.  It is hard to see him leave knowing he is one of the best players ever in the MLB and in the midst of his prime.  It is also hard to pay him a long term contract for $22 million plus a year knowing (1) that could get the Cards two good free agents (2) a 5 year plus contact seems scary after seeing a chink in Pujol’s armor this year after having an “off year” (3) Pujols seems to be a little more dinged up and his feet issues don’t seem to be going away. Imagine what it’s going to be like in 3 or 4 years.  There does seem to be a lot of good free agents this year too.
• I am extremely disappointing in the setup that the St Louis ball park bars put out on Friday. Did they not expect thousands to be there? In 2006, we watched the game at Al’s under the tent in horrible weather conditions but there was huge portable tvs and the game was blasted over the loud speakers. I was expecting more this year as they was more hype and better weather.  Instead, it was the same setup at PaddyO’s . They did not even have the game playing over the speakers so the majority of the crowd there could not hear or see the game. They really needed to step it up. By 7, they were also out of almost every food item. How do you run out of hot dogs???? Kilroy’s had a TV on top of their building but the bathroom and beer line was so long that it was not worth staying.  At least they stepped it up a little. I was expecting beer vendors and a good spread. I was disappointed. Luckily Joe Bucks was a little more prepared and we had a great time there.
• So pumped about our Honeymoon to Maui. The hotel looks awesome and glad we got upgraded airline seats for the total experience.
• Totally addicted to credit card perks right now. I feel like I have spent hours on the Points Guy’s website researching the best deals.  Also, I have never gotten more compliments over my Chase Sapphire Preferred card. The Cards is like a piece of metal and weights about 3 times more than a standard credit card. Everyone I hand it too says how cool it is.
• The housing market sucks! I would be happy selling just one place for a fair price.
• My fantasy team continues to find ways to win but I am not invincible as I once thought I was. My defense is weak but improving based on some of my pickups the past two weeks. My defensive draft was basically useless as I only have 1 or 2 players left I drafted. My wide receiver stable is not excelling like it was which is giving me my doubts. I am also not happy that a couple players that I drafted and held onto for several weeks like Demarco Murray (who I had the first 5 weeks) which are doing much better.  At least I will be 7 and 1 and walking away with the Hodge Podge division title.
• Should I be getting back into video games? The new COD and Battlefield both look pretty awesome.
• I am really excited about Black Friday this year. There are a lot of new gadgets and electronics that I am interested in if the price is right.

Where to even start? I have been a bad blog writer this year. A combination of an extremely busy work load, selling two places, traveling (work and pleasure), and general lack of a personal computer have all contributed to not keeping up. Thus I thought I would give a brief run down of whats going on.

• Daytona with the family was awesome. It was relaxing on the beach plus I did not get burnt which is always good. The biggest surprise of the trip was visiting St Augustine. I had never been and would recommend it. It is a very European town (which you would expect from the oldest city in the US).  I would recommend Pizzalley’s Chianti Room (one of the best meals we had all trip). I would not recommend San Sebastian winery. Florida is not and should not be known for their wine. I did not like it at all.
• Work is insane. We are super busy which is great but extremely overloaded. On top of that, I have a lot of travel. I am definitely looking forward to my Germany/UK trip next month.
• Selling of the two homes is progressing. Very little activity on the condo which is disappointing. The house is looking good. We finished the upstairs this weekend and have just one more project left before it can be listed.
• We registered (and de-registered at another place…lol) over the past week. It was a lot of fun. We also went cake testing and picked one that is going to be awesome.
• I am despising my car. My extended warranty ends in two weeks and not sure what I am going to do. The truck broke again. I am really disappointed in the quality of Infiniti. I will never buy again and has me seriously reconsidering buying a Nissan too.
• The Cards are a huge disappointment. The Rams are a surprise….let see if they can keep the momentum. They have a lot of good players. Not sure what to think of the Tigers. The game this weekend will be a good test.
• We made some awesome chicken parmigiana last night after our first attempt failed. I love making new foods with my fiancee.
• I am not a fan of the stock market right now. It has not been good to me.
• Went to Iron Barley with some friends for my late bday present. It was awesome. It is in such a weird location but so good. I had the Schnitzel & Spaetzle. I saw others with the Prime Rib special which looked amazing. The sausage platter was good too.

That’s all I got for now.

What a great weekend! The weekend seemed to last forever which is sort of funny since I has extended weekends for the last 3 weeks and this was the standard workweek.

On Friday we celebrated my birthday and had a last hurrah at the condo. We timed it with a free Bel Biv Devoe concert that was only blocks away. The party was pretty awesome. We had some great food and fun times with friends. I forgot how much I loved Rock Band (you will see a post on this later). The BBD concert was okay but I was not expecting much since they are in theory a one hit wonder (I know they have two songs that were “hits”). We unveiled our first run of cake pops along with a buffalo chicken dip that were both awesome.

We moved most of the essentials out of the condo on Saturday so I can officially say I am moved. Now I am in process of selling the unit. On Saturday night, we went to a friends new house and had dinner. It is a great house and we had a lot of fun hanging out with friends again.

Sunday was a jammed pack day as we unpacked, went to our new gym for the first time, did a lot of shopping, did some house work, etc. I also watched the World Cup game (or at least the 2nd half). It was very exciting but disappointing. A lot of blown chances and bad mistakes. On Sunday night, we grilled some bacon wrapped fillets and corn plus made some baked potatoes. It might have been one of the best meals we had ever ate. We are really starting to get good on the grill with cooking and seasoning.

Another jammed packed weekend for Becki and I. On Friday, we went out to dinner with another couple. We tried going to Lola but it was too loud and they were going to charge us a $5 cover even though we were having dinner there which is totally wrong in my eyes. We ended up that at Bridge further down Locust. It was my first time there and I was impressed. Their dinner menu was a little on the light side but the vast assortment of cheese easily made up for it. We asked our waitress to surprise us after we gave her some suggestions on our preferences. She came back with a large spread of cheese, nuts, berries, sausages and bread that was awesome. We ended the night playing Kinect and the dance game.

Saturday was an awesome day. Downtown was packed with people for St Patty’s day. Unfortunately, Becki and I had a packed day so did not take part in the festivities. We hit the gym first then headed to Good Works warehouse to pick up a high chest and night stand. These last two items were to complete my bedroom set that I bought 3 years ago. Luckily they still had the same set available. Unfortunately, we had a problem. Upon unpacking them at Becki’s we found that the unit had some kind of mildew/mold on the bottom of it and the back. We were really disappointed. The box was clean so it had to be packaged like this from the supplier or packages wet. This is actually the second bad experience with this set as my hardware on my dresser had oxidation on it when it was unpacked and had to be replaced. The good thing is that GoodWorks is replacing the unit and offering free delivery. I’m still a fan of the store as I basically furnished my whole condo from it.

We went to a friend’s birthday party at Sol Lounge in the CWE that night. Amazing enough, it was the first time I have even been there. This is odd in my eyes because it is a 3AM bar in the CWE. You would of thought we would have gone to this while living in the area for 1.5 years. Needless to say, the place is odd. Its basically in a house that has the front entrance of a house in which you then go through a bathroom to a huge bar/night club. It is almost like it is a secret underground bar that they are hiding. Not sure why. The place is basically a larger Pepper Lounge. We did not stay late and it was pretty empty when we left but I was told it would fill up around 1AM. I guess I am getting too old but this is a kind of place I sorta phased out of my life.

Sunday was an errands day. I ran all kinds of them in prep for playing a real ice hockey game for the first time in 10 years and other things. The second to last  Big Love show was awesome too.

I have been slacking on post in the past two or three weeks. There has just been so much going on. I’ll try to sum up the highlights.

KC Wedding

Becki and I went to KC (Liberty to be exact) for her sorority sister’s wedding.  It was a fun trip and a really nice wedding at a country club. It was great finally meeting the people that Becki spent 4 years of her life with.

San Juan, PR

I went to San Juan for a work trip. I was unfortunately sick again like I was when I went 5 years ago for work. Luckily, I just had a cold instead of the flu so it wasn’t too bad. I stayed at the Caribe Hilton which was the first international Hilton according to a History Channel documentary I watched while at the hotel (weird coincidence). The resort was huge and very luxurious.  The weather was not the best though. It was very windy and a little rainy.

I had one free day when I arrived so I decided to do a snorkeling excursion. I almost did not make it because of over capacity but we were able to find another company. The experience was pretty cool. For $85, they picked you up at the hotel at 8AM, provided food and drinks (adult beverages too) for breakfast and lunch, took you on a catamaran all day, and stopped at an island for snorkeling and also another snorkeling spot (with gear included).  The meals and transportation alone were worth the $85. The water was warm but the snorkeling sucked. The water was very disturbed due to the wind so the visibility was poor. I wasted $30 on a waterproof disposable from the overpriced hotel gift shop.

We also had some dinner in Old San Juan which was pretty cool. There are a lot of forts over looking the ocean and has a very small town feel like in Europe. I guess that is because the buildings are 400+ years old.

Here are some more pictures.

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras was very fun despite the cold weather. St Louis has been on a bad run of weather for this awesome holiday and the weather toyed with us again since it was nice the day before and after Saturday. Needless to say, Becki and I had a great time hanging out with friends. We even went to Maurizo’s after trying to get into other places that had over an hour wait. It was good but it was too early for the buffet. Mardi Gras still is one of my most favorite days in St Louis.

This week end was pretty action packed. I went to the Blues game with the extended family on Friday. We normally get upper deck tickets each year but we decided to go all out this year and get a suite. We invited some of the ladies too since we needed a minimum of 16 people. I was a little concerned with paying $75 a person with no drinks but the view and ability to walk around made it worth it. I would love to do it with a group of friends. The Blues blew the lead with 5 seconds left in the game and lost in a shootout so it was a disappointing outcome.

Becki and I tried out racquetball (first time for Becki and the first time for me since MU) on Saturday morning. I loved it but definitely need a new racquet. Let me know if anyone is interested in playing at the Downtown Y as I can get you in for free. Saturday night was a Valentine’s Day night for Becki and I since I thought I would be out of town on Monday. We grilled bacon wrapped filets, baked potatoes, and an awesome salad. The potatoes and salad turned out amazing. The steak did not as much as the grill in my building is a little broke plus I did not nearly cook it enough. We threw it on the grill for another 5 minutes then broiled it for another 10 and it was finally edible but it killed the mood. I would get it next time though we try. We also watched Social Network which I thought was awesome. I was expecting something much different.

I detailed my car on Sunday since we had awesome weather. It really needed it. I also repaired some things on the inside. Besides that, it was a pretty lazy day.

This weekend was a long weekend which is good. Becki and I did a little bit of everything and it was quite nice. I also got some decent sleep in too.

Friday night was a “date night.” We got some Crazy Bowls then headed back to my place. We watched Jersey Shore (which is not in HD after all) then played Kinect. I realized that I needed a rug mat after playing Kinect since my rug was going everywhere in all the jumping action. We also watched Dinner for Schmucks. This movie went well with Jersey Shore since it was also a trainwreck. It was one of those movies that made you laugh but I would never watch it again. It was so weird though that I would recommend watching it. I would give it a 6.5 out of 10.

I watched the devastating loss by MU on Saturday. They really needed that win and should have it. They missed a lot of free throws and made a lot of bad decisions. Their age really showed. I was impressed by their shooting though. The 3’s were really raining down.  We went on a couple date with Becki’s sister on Saturday afternoon/night to the Science Center for the Grossology exhibit. The exhibit sort of sucked as it was really geared towards kids but it was fun never the less. We rounded out the night with an early dinner at Drunken Fish followed up with dessert at the Cupcakery. I have been to DF a bunch but never had sushi. All I have to say is that it is expensive but it was my best sushi experience. We had 4 kinds of rolls and all were delicious. The Red Velvet cupcake was delicious too. I loved the cream topping.

Sunday was an errand day. I got that rug mat that I needed Friday night. We also watched the season premier of Big Love. This season sounds pretty exciting since the family is falling apart and a lot of secrets are going to be revealed.

• I really need to head out to the new bars by my house on Washington Ave. Rosalita’s and Jive and Wail all recently opened. I am really impressed that Jive and Wail is offering free cover to all downtown residents that can show a 63103 or 63101 zip code on their ID. I think that is a great idea and all the places downtown should follow. I think that would lead more “locals” to hit up these kinds of areas and increase the sense of community.
• I also need to hit up the Whiz Tech Cafe which is on my street and a block away.  I am a little surprised by the location and the concept but the menu sure looks good.
• I am extremely happy to see work begin on the Leather Trades building across the street from my condo. You can read more about the redevelopment in the Stl Business Journal. This place was in the process of being built when I bought my place and was part of the Pyramid collapse. It will be very nice to bring more action to my block. The end goal would be to fill up all the buildings from my block to Pepper Lounge. It is a work in progress as that area continues to add more business and redevelops.
• I love that Charter is finally catching up to their competitors in their HD line up. I have experienced my issues with Charter in the past but they are doing really well in Customer Service in my eyes now.  They added 11 new HD channels yesterday and I have been told that they will add another 14 in March. MTV is awesome for Jersey Shore, VS is good for hockey, Nick is good too. I can not wait for E to come out in the future. It will pretty much wrap up all my tv watching in HD.

11 New HD Channels:
Versus HD (Expanded Basic): 731FX HD (Expanded Basic): 732Big Ten Network HD (Expanded Basic): 733Speed HD (Expanded Basic): 734Hallmark Channel HD (Digital View): 742Cooking Channel HD (Digital View Plus): 743VH1 HD (Expanded Basic): 744MTV HD (Expanded Basic): 746Spike HD (Expanded Basic): 747ABC Family HD (Expanded Basic): 748Nickelodeon HD (Expanded Basic): 749

14 HD channels in March 2011 (No firm date released yet):
ESPNU HD (Digital View/Sports View): 737Lifetime Movie Network HD (Expanded Basic): 738CNBC HD (Expanded Basic): 739MSNBC HD (Expanded Basic): 740Travel Channel HD (Expanded Basic): 741Disney XD HD (Expanded Basic): 750Cartoon Network HD (Expanded Basic): 717ESPN News HD (Sports View): 718TruTV HD (Expanded Basic): 724E! HD (Expanded Basic): 723CMT HD (Expanded Basic): 722Oxygen HD (Digital View): 721HLN HD (Expanded Basic): 720BIO HD (Digital View): 719

• Here is a great analysis on Blaine Gabbert. Finally, someone has watched all the tapes and realizes that this guy needs a lot of work. He might be the prototypical build for a NFL QB but he sure does need some work on pocket presence. I can really see him bombing if he is drafted as a franchise QB and thrown into a starting role in the 1st year or two.
• The Colorado upset of Missouri doesn’t seem to be that much of an upset anymore after Colorado beat K State in Manhattan last night. The Big 12 is just really strong and every road game is going to be tough.

That’s all I got. I was going to break up these posts based on Matt’s comments but I am too lazy so you will have to deal with it.

I went out with my lovely girlfriend on Friday night for our 1 year anniversary since our first date.  We went to Vin de Set which is where we went on our first date. We ate a ton of food (our bill supplemented this). We started with a mix cheese plate, then I had a three onion soup, then we both got the beef tenderloin medallions. The main entrée was awesome. It has great mashed potatoes, asparagus and the steak was so tender.  We got a cheesecake to go which we ate on Saturday which was extremely delicious.

I had most of the day Saturday to myself since Becki was hosting her sister’s baby shower.  I caught up on Dexter and all but one episode of Fringe. Fringe was very good and I had not watched a single episode yet this season. I really like the mystery in the show. I also like the crazy technology that is shown in the parallel universe. I also watched the MU Tigers basketball and football games. The basketball team has a ton of talent. Right now, they look a little lost since they have so many scorers. Hopefully they will gel and have a great season. The football game was pretty good too. Blaine had his best game throwing in a long time (in my opinion) but they still are not very consistent. They seem to forget about the crossing patterns and short throws up the middle in which they rock at. Becki and I closed out the night watching Iron Man 2. It was a pretty good flick.

We did some shopping on Sunday. I looked at the TV that I am toying with getting. Its going to be $1500 on Black Friday. I didn’t think I was sold on the LED technology but I will now only buy one with it. Best Buy had the same two 55″ platforms next to each other (one with LED and the other just a regular LCD).  The LED LCD was so much more vibrant. I also got the Kinect but its a Christmas present so I wont get till open it for another month. I watched the Rams game too. They look pretty good but couldn’t stop Atlanta. I also have no clue who that shuttle pass was going to at the end of the game.  On the tv front, I watched the season premier of The Event and Sarah Palin’s show. The Event was pretty good and I think my girlfriend liked it too so going to play catch up if I can find a place to watch the 2nd episode since I lost it in my DVR issues a couple months ago. The Palin show is good too. It makes me want to go to Canada.

I am extremely busy so just gonna go over the highlights. I tailgated bright and early at 7AM for MU’s first game vs Illinois on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. We got the same spot as last year but no rain so it was pretty awesome. We grilled some great food, had some adult beverages, and hung out with a bunch of friends that I do not always get to see. Overall an awesome time. Some of us went to my place to watch the game while others went to the game. MU of course won and we reconvened at Over Under for some post game celebration. I had dinner at Ozzies afterwards and was in bed by 10AM.

I went to Sugar Creek winery on Sunday with my girlfriend, her sister, and her brother-in-law. Apparently everyone else had the same idea on a beautiful Labor Day weekend. Fortunately, we were able to score this awesome tent (the only one there) after sweating in the sun for an hour. We felt like we were kings. The wine was good but the place was definitely understaffed since it took 30 mins to an hour to get a bottle of wine at the single counter they had going. Still a great time.

I had another jammed pack weekend last week. I watched The Lovely Bones which was actually very good. Even though I knew the plot of the story, I did not know how it would play out so it was good. Peter Jackson did an awesome job. The movie was actually a little trippy. I went to a friends garage sale on Saturday morning and hung out at his house for a while then hit up a couples shower. Sunday was the big day of the annual Scott Air Show I have gone to the last 3 years. We normally go on Saturday but Sunday was just as fun. We took the metrolink there and basically saw every flight. We even got to see the Blue Angels which apparently havent flown at Scott in like 20 years. The show was awesome. We made a surprise stop at the Casino Queen for a $12 buffet. All I can say to my eating friends is that we need to hit this up again. They had an Asian, Italian, American and other kinds of foods. I stuffed myself silly.