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.

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.

This was a pretty action packed weekend for me with all kinds of plans. I hit up my favorite Mexican restaurant, Mi Ranchito, for dinner on Friday with my girlfriend. I normally always get the lunch enchilada meal but got a mixed combo to “branch out.” I swear that I will order something totally different one day. We followed that up with going to the grand opening of Copia on Washington Avenue. The place looked fantastic. They installed a sliding roof on the patio for when the weather is good/bad. The one thing that troubled me was a “corking fee.” We wanted to try some wine. We saw a bottle that looked good. It said $8 for glass and $16 for bottle so we figured the bottle is a better deal even though we only wanted a glass. Well they ended up charging us an $8 corking fee. I thought such fees were only when you brought your own wine into a venue…not when you buy it from them. That is super deceptive adverting and is not right. The bartender even made a comment about how stupid people are for not realizing the corking fee. We followed it off with a visit to Shiver. Shiver is a new vodka bar next to Copia. I read an article earlier in the week about how you can drink vodka in a freezer. They provide parkas to keep you warm. Supposedly it is popular in other big cities like Las Vegas, New York, and LA. It was a good atmosphere even though it was pretty empty. I would describe it like Lure (down the street) but without a cover and cheaper drinks so much better than Lure. But it seems like Lure lowered their cover. I can swear paying in the $15 to $20 range when it first opened. $10 is more reasonable but still the highest on Washington Avenue.

I went to a friend’s pool party on Saturday. The weather was awesome plus I did not get burnt which is a major win. We also watched the US soccer game. All I can say is that FIFA needs to make some major changes. I understand why United States has not embraces soccer like the rest of the world. These are the changes I suggest (1) add replay or more officials…the calls and missed calls have been ridiculous. (2) be able to rescind cards after the game like the NBA does with technical fouls. I have seen some horrible calls that have knocked players out of the next match when they should not have been. (3) make more calls on flops. (4) stop the clock when the play is dead. Is it that hard to stop the clock?…every other US sport does it. Stoppage time does not work. Watching how the Ghana players were just falling and laying down on the ground to delay time was ridiculous. No sports outcome should ever be determined because of the delay tactics of the other team. I don’t care if people say every team does it…that doesn’t make it right.

I went on a serious cleaning binge on Sunday along with knocking out a couple shows off the DVR. I am glad Entourage is back. I also like the new realm of True Blood. I thought last season wasn’t that good and definitely like this new storyline better. I have an appointment to get my wood floors professional cleaned this week which has be excited. I did something to my floors the first time I cleaned them and they have never looked the same.

• I have not played video games since I came back from Chile almost two months ago. Pretty odd considering I was addicted before I left.
• I can not get on top of my DVR situation.  I have my DVR 75% full which is about 900 GB. I have complete seasons of Chuck, Dollhouse, Tudors, Flash Forward, V, and probably others. I have over 5 episodes each of Simpsons, Parks and Recreations, The Middle, American Dad, America – The Story of Us, and many others.
• I do not know what to think about this shift from the Big 12. I thought it was a money issue but I read last week that MU has gotten around $22 million a year in the Big 12 revenue sharing program where the Big 10 programs get 20 million. Doesn’t make sense. It sounds like the whole league could fold if MU and Nebraska leave which is eerie. I read a stupid article yesterday that said KU and K State would be out to dry. Both are major sports programs so I am sure they will have no problem finding their way into a strong conference.
• I love that I somehow got new HD channels with Charter. I believe 6 in total. Comedy Central is huge and the Disney channel is not bad. Bravo is also a big one even though I do not watch any shows from there. My girl friend can now watch Drop Dead Diva in HD on Lifetime now too.
• I had a brief stroll down Wash Ave last night and saw a lot of development started back up again. The market that was started before Culinaria opened looked to be going again and almost finished. There is also a convenient store next to Lucas Park being built. Copia looks to open any day and the Vodka bar next door to Copia is open.
• The Lakers Celtics series is pretty good but I think the referees are deterring from the game. There has been a lot of missed calls in terms of fouls….more than normal on both sides. It seems life refs automatically call a foul if the player falls down but don’t call one when players get whacked in arm. The 2  minute replay review needs to be looked at because the Odom-Rondo reversal was ridiculous. Rondo fouled Odom (and it was easy to see) on a rebound that made Odom knock the ball out of bounds. The refs originally called it Lakers ball and reversed. Obviously he would not have knocked it out of bounds if Rondo would not have knocked is right hand off the ball.
• Looking forward to Vegas. More and more people keep signing up plus I can’t wait to hang out with friends I have partied with in a while.

I thought this past weekend was going by super slow on Sunday when I woke up (which is good) but here I sit on Monday and wonder where the time went. Isn’t it always like that?

I went to the Cardinals game with some of my boys on Friday. We hit up Harry’s before hand to enjoy the great weather and patio scene. The game was a fun time, the weather was perfect (not too hot), and Waino was pitching so of course we won. I went to Paddyo’s for a while before I went home to crash.

Saturday was pretty relaxing. I hung out with my brother and saw Lucabrasi at the RFT Music Festival on Wash Ave. I followed that up with a quick dinner at Ozzie’s then went to Pepper’s for a 30^th bday party for my cousin. I tried to end the night by watching Where the Wild Things Are but gave up about 30 minutes in. It is already back in the mail because I don’t think I would ever get into it and there are much better movies in my Netflix queue.

Sunday was also a relaxing day. I knocked out some errands with my girlfriend, made a delicious spaghetti dinner, and suffered through a Lakers loss (even though it was a good game but with some bad calls). I also flipped back and forth between the Cards game and the Chicago/Philadelphia NHL game. Two comments… (1) I do want Chicago to win the Cup which is hard to say. The series has been fantastic. (2) Why does the NBA switch formats to 2-3-2 in the finals? It does not make sense. It seems to give more of an advantage to the team that doesn’t have the best record because all they have to do it win 1 game out of the first 2 on the road and then have 3 home games to close it out. The finals games are spread out further too which makes it even easier for 2-2-1-1-1 schedule.

It was a pretty jammed pack weekend for me that was a lot of fun. Friday was the first Cards game I went to with the “boys.” I say that in quotation marks since only one guy was there. It amazing how much changed in two years thinking how we had 5 seats in the Bank of America club which was a blast. Needless to say the game was very fun and the Cards won so it was a plus. I met some other friends at Paddyo’s and did a little dancing. It was a good night.

I went to the Mt Pleasant and Sugar Creek wineries on Saturday. I will have a more detailed post about this later in the week but Mt Pleasant was a big disappointment while Sugar Creek was awesome. The wine was great, the weather was perfect, and we had a lot of fun. Plus, I did not get sun burnt or even red.

I put on my domesticated hat on Sunday and did some grass cutting and yard work in the blazing sun and heat (supposedly it tied the record for St Louis heatwise). I got some errands done and then settled down to watch the best TV shows ever….Lost! I am amazed about the show the more and more I think about it (which is a lot). I will have a separate post about it later in the week too. I missed the Lakers game and they lost (is that the theme of this paragraph?).

I really have been neglecting my blog and my “fans” have been voicing their displeasure. Thus I am going to attempt to get back to at least posting weekly.

This was my first weekend back with my girlfriend in almost 3 weeks so it was pretty low key. We first went to try out Five Guys. The burgers were big and you could load them up with toppings. It tasted very much like Steak ‘n’ Shake which is ironically across the street. It was expensive in my eyes so I would rather go across the street. We followed that up with some good Chilean wine and a movie. We watched Up in the Air which was horrible. It was so boring. The only thing that kept me entertained was spotting all the St Louis scenes.

Saturday was a jammed pack day. We first went to Matt’s wedding couples shower. It was fun even though it rained the whole day so we couldn’t get in any washers. We followed that up with a friend’s birthday party at the Mack. I thought I had been there before but I guess I have not. Needless to say, it was a pretty cool play with a lot of people so it should make my rotation more.

Sunday was a day of domestication. The day consisted of a trip to Home Depot to buy flowers and then plant them at Becki’s. It was fun and everything turned out good. I also planted my “cat grass” in the planted I finally found. I am hoping that it grows and looks good so I can put it on my center island in my kitchen.

In other news, I approve of the Rams draft. It looks like they got some really good late round picks in the wide receiver from Cincinnati and the super athlete tight end. In hind site, they should have drafted Suh first then Claussen second but how were they to predict that no QBs would be drafted in the first round. I am also extremely disappointed in the Lakers. I was really worried after they had a horrible second half of the season but I never expected them to get blown out in a game by Oklahoma.

One of my friends was gracious enough to get us tickets for the regional Sweet 16  games in St Louis last week. Luckily she had a pretty good connection which resulted in amazing seats. As you can see from the pictures, we were in the third row from the press seats. We were surrounded by “celebs.” Most notably Magic Johnson but Steve Maruicci (current Detroit Lions coarch) and Tom Izzo’s wife were all within a couple seats of us in the Michigan St section. We also had all the players families around us. So not bad seats at all.

The games were interesting. I had never been to a tournament game nor a college basketball game that MU was not playing in. A couple things surprised me about the game: (1) the players all looked much bigger than on TV when your at court level (2) the crowd never really gets into the game (3) they didnt serve beer but it is a NCAA game (4) 75% of the fans in the Mich St – Northern Iowa game were wearing purple but the crowd never got loud and intimidating like I was expecting before the game. I expected them to be going crazy when they started on an early run but nothing sustatined to try to rile up the Mich St players. (5) Ohio St does not travel well; or at least didn’t for this game because their section was tiny and I saw little red through the arena (6) not sure if attendance was down but they should of had this game at Scottrade since the attendance was only 13k for Friday’s games. There was a Blues game on Sunday so maybe this was impossible. Also, I would have expected a ton more fans and a better atmosphere if Kansas would have made it like they were expected.

The games themselves were both interesting and close. Ohio St got some bad calls and a cold streak in the 2nd quarter by Turner hurt them. Turner rebounded at the end but couldn’t pull it off. Northern Iowa was clearly over matched and lacked in talent but they were able to hang around because of some timely 3′s and the play of the their big man.

Fun

I had a pretty entertaining weekend. I went to Double D’s to celebrate a friend’s engagement. Another group of people that I knew were also there. It was a fun time. I still am surprised of the crowd and the atmosphere of the new location.

On Saturday, I got some shopping in. I bought a couple fake trees for my place. The coolest one is a 7ft bamboo tree that I put in my bedroom. It was expensive but it fits the room perfectly. The base even matches my bedroom furniture. I hung out at a friend’s that night for his 30^th b-day party. It was a great night and was the first time in a long time that we all hung out. We fit in a little dancing at Big Daddy’s and then made a quick run to Pops to round out the night.

Sports

Pretty big weekend for sports. The biggest event on my mind was the MU – K State game. It turned out to be a great game and helped to ease a lot of the anxiety of the team after some tough road losses to some bad teams. MU now has a 30 game home winning steak which is extremely impressive. It was a good start to Big 12 play and hopefully it continues. I watched bits and pieces of all the playoff games. Thought I would watch more of the Dallas – Philly game but did not. The Blues won their first game under the new head coach too.

TV

Sunday night premiered two of my favorite shows. The first being Chuck which almost did not record because it lost a DVR matchup with Big Love and the Simpson’s 400^th episode special. I moved Big Love to 10:15 and it was all resolved. Chuck showed two new episodes back to back. There is another one tonight. I still do not know why more people do love Chuck. Here is a good synopsis from my favorite Lost writer on the show. All I can say is that it has drama, comedy, romance mixed with hot girls, fighting, and tons of trendy electronic callouts and references. As for the new season, it did seem that they were cutting cost since the show was basically cancelled and brought back to life by their strong fan base. It seemed like some of the CGI explosions looked a little cheesy to me. Overall, the two episodes were good and Chuck 2.0 seems like he will have some new moves. The Accord commercials with the characters were sort of weird. I didn’t know if I was watching the show or a commercial at first. I guess that’s good Marketing.

More importantly was the premier of Big Love. It has been so long that I forgot some of the major plotlines. I totally forgot that Joey killed Roman. It also looks like for now that he will get away with it. It was a very entertaining first episode and through out some very interesting twist to setup the season.

All I can about Jersey Shore is Gym, Tan, and Laundry. Everyone has to have a little GTL in their life.

As with every other year, I embarked on my two week hiatus from work for the holiday break. This year was a little different since I rarely went out and instead opted for a more relaxed feeling with the people I care about.

Movies

I saw a ton of movies over my break. All the summer hits all hit my Blu ray at the right time. I am not going to go into a lot of details but I was disappointed in The Hangover. It was definitely funny but I can think of a lot more comedies that are much better. For example, Old School is 5 times funnier. Maybe it was over hyped. What I did see that was amazing was Avatar in 3D. Going into the movie, I did not know much about it except everyone kept saying how good it was. It was very impressive and would only recommend it in 3D (well worth the $17 ticket). The color, images, and plot was fantastic. It instantly became one of my top 5 movies ever and can see it being my first 3D movie since 3D TVs are already hitting the market.

Fantasy Football

I came super close to do the unthinkable and winning my league. That is a hard concept to grasp because I lost 4 out of the first 5 games but had some good mid season pickups (Miles Austin) and people returning from injury (or getting more time due to teammates injured) that made my team into a powerhouse. Unfortunately, I got distracted in the semi finals and did not manage my team that Sunday morning and loss by 2 points when all my bench people had over 20 points each. I won the consolation bracket and scored my points in the final week than both the teams in the final.

Family

I spent a lot of time with the family. What is funny (or maybe not) is that I think I spent more time in a 30 day period than I do the other 11 months combined. I really enjoyed all Christmas and New Years parties that I went to.

New Years Eve

First off, I hope to never plan a NYE night ever again. Unless it is in Vegas (something I have always wanted to do and just happened to be something one of my Wash U friends did this year but she did it way more than I ever could). After much going back and forth, we went to MoMos for dinner and Big Daddy’s in Soulard for the night. It was my first time at MoMo’s. I was most impressed by the Sea Bass. It was $10 and was equal to a $30 serving at most fine restaurants. Big Daddy’s was also good. Well worth the $55 since they had premium drinks and Red Bull included … hello Three Olives Cherry Vodka and Red Bull drinks (my fav). Like expected cabs were impossible but worst than I thought. I thought it would be easier since we went to a 1 o’clock and all the city bars don’t close till 3 but I was wrong. Thankfully a friend drove us home after a couple hours. I found out today at lunch that I could have gotten a ride immediately from a guy at work that lived next door from where we were.

Sports

I only followed two sporting events closely this break, both MU games. The MU vs IL basketball game was a surprising win. The MU bowl game was a rather disappointing one. I did watch a lot of the other bowl games but no NFL games. It is also nice that the Rams got the #1 draft. I would like to see them get Suh as the #1 then a quarterback for the #33 pick.

Various

• After a couple failed fixing attempts, my Xbox 360 is still broke.
• My friends can be complete idiots at times especially when it comes to hot tubs in the cold.
• I did not catch up on my DVR watching which is amazing since no new shows recorded. Watched a lot of movies instead. I also probably only played an hour of video games the whole 2 weeks.
• No one goes to Wash Ave during a holiday break. Important fact to remember.
• Finally went ice skating at Steinberg Park. It was fun but very cold and windy so we did not stay long. One thing to note is that place must make a killing. Very low overhead since it is outdoors and getting like $9 a person.