Week ending

It’s been yet another busy day here today, and I’m astounded at how fast the week has flown by.  It seems it was only Monday yesterday, but here it is, Friday evening already.

Gym this morning, followed by an hour of racquetball, shower, and 50 pushups (we were doing 100 at the gym, but ran out of time), and I’m exhausted.

But, not enough that Mark and I couldn’t go out shopping this evening.  Primarily because we had a $20 voucher that had to be used this evening before it expired.  Of course the nature of the beast is that you go into a store with $20 to spend, and come out having spent a whole lot more.  But, they were awesome bargains. *laugh*

We’ve purchased truly ugly Christmas decorations, which are to be gifts for our friends Richard and Jason.  Each year we try and give each other a truly ugly decoration that MUST be displayed on the tree.  Last years was a doozy, this years stands to be in the same class. 

Oh, and we found an Asian Fusion restaurant called Yama in Bellevue which was pretty fabulous for dinner.  If you get the chance you NEED to go there.

But, now we’re home, the pets are all inside, and it’s time to unwind.

Hooroo!

Brrr it’s cold in here!

There must be some Torro’s in the atmosphere…

It’s not quite Winter here yet, but it’s looking like being another cold one.  Although this time last year we’d already had quite a lot of snow.  I was also living in a pretty awful (for staying warm) house.

This time around it’s much more cosey.  The dogs are loving the fact their kennel is undercover and so close to the door too.

I’ve nothing exciting to report today.  I’ve played racquetball, been bowling, had dinner out, and now I’m home and ready to curl up in front of the television for a little while, then a relatively early night.

Oh, the only event of note, well at least to me is that I’ve organised, and I know it’s naughty, to have some sand sent to me from Australia.

Why you ask?  Well, in my entire life there has never been a single year where I have not set foot on Australian soil.  This year will be the first time.  So rather than miss out, I’m having some sent out to me.

So if you’re in Australia and reading *hint hint*…  Thanks Jamie…  I’m needing some soil.  Not really, I don’t want to be doing anything naughty to the environment…

*laugh*

Nite nite!

So wrong but so funny!

Well if you haven’t worked it out by now, I have a seriously twisted and incorrect sense of humour.  That being said, I had to share with you the following YouTube video of “Achmed the Dead Terrorist”.

You’re going to need sound, and a sense of humour.  Once you have those active, you’ll love it.

Enjoy!

Achmed the Dead Terrorist

What’s up Doc?

Wow today flew by.

It started off freezing cold and dark, and ended the same way.  Fortunately the middle part of the day, while cold, was all blue skies and sunshine.  Almost sunglasses weather.
A really pleasant day to go to the dentist.  Not!  Fortunately though I have a great dentist.

Today was devoted to getting the preparatory work completed for my two new front crowns.  I broke my two front teeth when I was about 13, and have had them “prettied up” once since then, but it’s come time to have them fixed properly, and hopefully once and for all.  For that, porcelain crowns are required.

So it was back in the chair today, not quite 7 days after my last visit for a whitening, also in preparation for the new crowns.  This time I selected the Chronicles of Narnia as my movie of choice while in the chair.  So donning the complimentary VR goggles, I settled in for the duration.

As with all dental work of this nature, anaesthetic is called for, and as far as I’m concerned, there can never be enough.  Ideally, I, like Edina Monsoon, would much prefer “total sensory deprivation AND backup drugs”.  Of course that’s not the case.  Fortunately though, my dentist is well aware of how quickly my body metabolises these numbing beauties so gives me a little extra.  Essentially, any anaesthetic used is lucky to last half it’s usual time on me.  Making for some often uncomfortable experiences about half way through a standard procedure.

Imagine me back arched, white knuckled, eyes squeezed shut and desperately trying not to clamp my jaws shut on the nearest finger or dental implement in an effort to “make it stop”.

To make it worse, being my two top front teeth, this sort of work also comes with the “big needle”.  The one that feels like it’s going through the top of your jaw and coming out of your nose.  Not pleasant.  But with a dab of topical anaesthetic first, I virtually didn’t feel a thing.  Initially.

Short story.  Numbness activated, my existing two teeth were drilled out into stubs to create anchors for the new crowns.  Not a pretty look.  I snuck out at one stage for a “bathroom break” just so I could take a look in the mirror.  I looked just like a third generation trailer park veteran who’d been driven over by their own trailer.  Not pretty!

Several impressions were taken, one requiring my entire mouth be filled with what felt and tasted like Plasticine for five minutes while it set, before temporary plastic crowns could be made to tide me over.

The process took just on 90 minutes, the plastic crowns taste GOD AWFUL, fortunately that’s subsided, and I’m set to go until they’re replaced with the new ones the day after Christmas Day.

Unfortunately though, being temporary teeth made from a mold of my old ones, they’re slightly larger.  Not very noticable to someone on a quick glance, but to me they feel and look like Bugs Bunny style teeth, and I’m still getting used to talking with them.  Lispy Larry!  Not fun, and fortunately temporary.

Ah well, hopefully there’s a dazzling new smile in my near future.  Although I do believe that braces are the next step in the 5 year Dental plan…

Woohoo! *heel click*  Guess how excited I am?

Hooroo!

Women are evil

I’d disagree, and swap “evil” out with “resourceful”.  But then given the circumstances, I think I’d probably channel my “inner woman” too.  *laugh*

Look out Mark!

From my inbox to you.  This little gem was sent to me by the lovely Matt G.  Enjoy!

The FBI had an opening for an assassin. After all the background checks, interviews and testing were done there were 3 finalists. Two men and a woman.
For the final test, the FBI agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun.
“We must know that you will follow our instructions no matter what the circumstances.

Inside the room you will find your wife sitting in a chair.
Kill Her!!!”
“The man said, “You can’t be serious, I could never shoot my wife”
The agent said, “Then you’re not the right man for this job. Take your wife and go home.”
The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room. All was quiet for about 5 minutes. The man came out with tears in his eyes,
“I tried, but I can’t kill my wife.”
The agent said, “You don’t have what it takes. Take your wife and go home.”
Finally, it was the woman’s turn. She was given the same instructions, to kill her husband. She took the gun and went into the room.
Shots were heard, one after another. They heard screaming, crashing, and banging on the walls. After a few minutes, all was quiet. The door opened slowly and there stood the woman. She wiped the sweat from her brow.
“This gun is loaded with blanks” she said.
“I had to beat him to death with the chair.”
MORAL : Women are evil. Don’t mess with them!!!!!!!!

Raincheck on the kiting

We didn’t end up going out kite flying today.  It turned into a rather late night last night, for no other reason than neither of us being really tired.  So by the time we finally turned the television off and went to bed it was nearly 4am.

Yawn!  As you can imagine, today got off to a slow start, and was spent primarily, at least during daylight hours inside the house in the warm.  We did leave for a short while though to take the dogs for a walk in a nearby park.  A pretty damn awesome park it is too.  Sporting fields available to the public to cater for all sporting tastes.  I almost wish we’d moved here sooner.  Now I just have to find myself a tennis partner…

Ok, it’s time for dinner now, and an early night.

Hooroo!

Go fly a kite

…and I just might.

I think Mark and I are having our second (third, fourth…  I actually suspect I never left…) childhoods.

Yesterday afternoon we hit the Lego stores and stocked up on Lego, but after I’d blogged about it, we hit Costco and found ourselves a kite each for the bargain price of $9.99.

Now we’re going to have to rug up all nice and warm, take the dogs and some hot drinks in a thermos and get out in the open and start flying.

I.  C.A.N.’T W.A.I.T!

The last time I flew a kite I think I was 8 years old.  It was made of cheap plastic, was in the shape of a plane, was green and yellow print on a white background and was purchased for $2.00 (expensive back then) by my Grandmother, and I flew it with my cousin (he had one too), in the recreation park adjoining the Carrum Bowling Club in Victoria Australia.  That was back in the “happy days”.  Sadly, that side of the family had their sanity resting on some very “unstable ground”.  Or you could say…  There genepool was in dire need of a shock dose of chlorine.  Fortunately the genes my father shared, were/are of better quality.

Moving on.  So tomorrow, as long as it doesn’t rain, should see us outside, flying a kite or two.  One’s a dragon with an opening and closing mouth, and the other is a cyclops with a spinning eye.

Come on!  You know you didn’t expect me to have a “normal” kite.

As for today, it was a quiet one.  A game of racquetball this morning, three actually, and I lost all of them, but it was fun.  A quiet’ish afternoon on the couch watching several of the recorded episodes of Smallville that we’ve been meaning to catch up on for weeks.  Followed by seeing Beowulf in 3D in Seattle, dinner, and now home to relax in the warm with the pets.

Oh, Beowulf…  It was kind of cool, but I wouldn’t go so far as saying it was brilliant.  Certainly passed the afternoon.

Hooroo!

Black Friday Sales

Much like the Post-Christmas Sales in Australia, there are Black Friday Sales here in the US after Thanksgiving.  Of course, much like in Australia, there are Sales and there are “sales”.

If you read the advertising properly, or if you shop around, you’ll generally find that a large majority of what is on offer, really isn’t any cheaper, it’s just being marketed a different way.

Take for instance the Playstation 3.  Currently when you buy it you get 5 free Blue-ray disks and a wireless controller.  I know, because we got one a few weeks ago.  But with the sales, it’s being re-advertised in a big bold manner stating the “bonus controller and 5 disks”.  Like wow.  There’s no surprise there for most people.  But I’m sure there are many who get suckered in by it.

There are bargains, you just have to know where to look.

I digress…  Just for a change.

One sale that Mark and I were aware of, and one that appealed to us greatly was the Lego Store sale.  It was a pot-luck style sale.  You select your items at normal price, then when you’re about to pay, you randomly select a scratch card, which reveals the discount you can receive on your purchase.  Either 10, 20 or 50% off the purchase price.

Good deal!

Of course we only got 10%, but it’s still a bargain.  Also because we purchased over a certain amount we also earned quite a substantial amount of Store Cash Credit, and further loyalty points towards future purchases.

Hell!  It’s Lego, we’ll be back.

We’re now in the proud possession of the following:

Lego Mindstorms
Lego Eiffel Tower
Lego Boeing 787 Dreamliner Jet
Lego assorted Batman Fridge Magnets

How much fun!

Oh, it’s not all been sales though, we both worked out at the gym this morning with our trainer.  I broke my old record of 1 mile constant running (no idea what the conversion is, but it’s a distance that until recently I’d probably have driven), breaking the 3 mile point, then after an epic shopping session, played an hour of racquetball.

Now it’s time to rest.  At least I know that whatever I ate yesterday has now been burnt off.  The status quo has been reinstated.

Nite!

Thanksgiving

It only seems like a short time ago that it was Thanksgiving last time.  A whole year has gone past faster than I expected, or imagined that it ever would.

While this isn’t a holiday that I’m accustomed with traditionally, I am thankful for my friends, family and for my and their good health.

But not to get all mushy on you all.  I’m also thankful for Karma.  There’s a few people out there at the moment, who could do with a big dose of their own Karma, and today would be just the perfect day for it.

See?  I’ve not gone all sweetness and light on you.  I’m still me, with a dark centre.  *laugh*

Ok, I’ve gotta go, there’s preparations to be done, food to be eaten, drinks to be drunk, and friends and family to spend the day with.

Although I can’t be with you all, and there are many I wish I were with.  I’ll be seeing you soon.

Keep your eyes open and the hatches battened!

Hooroo!

Itch be gone

YAY, the antibiotics worked.  I’m no longer itchy, the hives are gone, and my teeth have settled down and are nothing but shining white brilliance now.

Happy day for me!

I’ve worked out too, and apparently look slimmer today.  Funny, I thought so this morning when I looked in the mirror too.  The scales seem to back it up somewhat.  Perhaps the caloric burn of scratching is akin to working out…
*laugh*  I think not.

It’s Turkey/Thanksgiving Day here tomorrow, so there’ll be food and drink a plenty, so I think I’ll starve myself for the remainder of the day to account for the feast.  Haha!  Not likely.

Have a great day wherever you are.

Cheers!