plug

Missing: One Blogger

/ Shane / 2 Comments

So, you’ve probably noticed there haven’t been a lot of posts lately.  That is because we have been having some crazy weeks lately!  First off, I went to Detroit for business from Tuesday until Thursday night, then Friday we left for WI for a family reunion until Sunday, followed by camping with family from Sunday until Wednesday, followed by one night in Madison with my brother, then back to Chicago on Thursday when people began arriving for Evie’s big birthday party which was on Saturday.  I think we are mostly cleaned up now and everything put back in order, but there are still a few loose ends.  Lets just say I am not looking forward to going to work tomorrow, but I am looking forward to a weekend off next weekend!

So lets see, camping.  Well, let me say for starters that this was the most exhausting vacation I have ever had.  Camping tends to be a lot of work in the first place, but with a baby it is 10 times worse.  There are so many more things to take with you and remember and every time you leave the campsite you end up making 3 more trips back because of all the things you forgot.  So we were planning on driving all the way to the reunion but by the time we got out the door and then with typical Friday rush hour traffic, we realized we were crazy to think we could go that far in one day.  So we ended up finding a campsite at a state park along the way.  Even though it meant putting up and taking down the tent one extra time and rearranging the car a little, it ended up working out pretty well.  It was only $30 total for the night (rather than $100 or who knows how much for a hotel) and it really wasn’t all that much work.  The only bad thing was the mosquitoes!  Due to all the flooding, the mosquito population in WI is really out of control.  I probably got ~25 bites that first night.  They were actually fine for the rest of the trip, but that first night we couldn’t even leave the tent.

The reunion was a lot of fun, although it seemed like a lot of people were missing; specifically my cousins!  Very few of them were there.  Attendance was a little down this year, I think it was around like 170 people.  This was my first time at the new site, but I liked it.  The only complaint I have about the whole thing was the fireworks.  Now, I understand that not everybody has a sleeping baby and its not like I am one of those parents who thinks the whole world should stop and bow to my will because I have a kid, but I have to tell you it was as if the fireworks were going off on top of our tent.  In fact that is not wholely inaccurate since I was standing outside of my tent when the first one went off and an 18 inch piece of debris landed about 2 feet away from me.  Aunt Lois actually found some of the debris inside her car the next day!  But I digress.  By the time Sara made it to the tent she found me huddling over Evie with a pillow covering our heads.  But it worked apparently because she was back asleep as soon as the fireworks were over.  She even slept through the 4 wheeler drive-by / off road show a few hours later.  Oh, and (as usual) our dish to pass went over very poorly.  That wasn’t so bad though, since we ate it for pretty much the rest of the trip.

The rest of the camping went pretty good as well.  There is not a lot of time to relax since (like at home) you are always thinking about the next thing the baby needs to do.  By the time you get everybody up and showered and dressed, you start thinking about breakfast, then diaper changes, then naps then lunch, then more diaper changes, etc.  Before you know it you are working on baths and pajamas and bedtime.  It was fairly hot, but we (I) managed a dip in the pool I think every day.  The campsite was really nice, I would definitely recommend it.  It was obvious that the people really work hard to make it a nice place.  The pictures on the website don’t really do it justice, but maybe that is because they are constantly upgrading everything.  My family has gone there I think 7 of the last 8 years or something like that.  Some of them even get Christmas cards from the owners!  I would definitely go back there again.  We would probably still tent camp, but the cabins were probably the nicest cabins I have ever seen at a camp site.  Our tent was the perfect distance from the site where we had a fire every night: far enough away that we wouldn’t wake her up, but close enough that we could get there in a hurry if we needed to

Speaking of being away from the tent, Sara had this great idea I think she got maybe from parent hacks.  In order to separate ourselves a little bit from the tent when Evie was sleeping, we improvised a baby monitor.  Sara would call my phone, put both phones on speaker and then mute my phone.  Her phone would stay with the baby.  Since we don’t use minutes between our phone, we could let it go like that for hours.  The only hard part is remembering to charge our phones constantly.

Anyway, Evie was again walking like a maniac all the time and again improved so much on the skill that she is now walking.  Everyone was really helpful with her and it was very appreciated.  She is starting to have some serious mommy issues (like separation anxiety).  Also, she got some major diaper rash which meant kicking and screaming at every diaper change as well as hating the outdoor baths.  Even though there were plenty of people to take her for long periods of time, I just got more and more worn out every day that went by.  By the time we left I was sooo glad we were staying in a hotel the next night and not camping or even going back to our own house.  If we went back to our place we would have ended up unpacking, etc.  So the hotel was perfect.

So we went to Madison and got to take a tour of the capitol where little brother works.  His co-worker gave us a tour, and he could definitely be a tour guide.  He has worked there for something like 38 years so he definitely knew what he was talking about.  Our hotel was literally across the street from the capitol which was handy since we had to leave early from the orchestral “concert on the square” to get Evie to bed, but we could still hear and see it from our room.  We walked around the shops and things and ate at some restaurants and generally confirmed what everybody says:  Madison is a great town!  We even discussed what it would be like to live there, although probably not until we retired.  The only thing we’re not sure of is that it, like much of the rest of Wisconsin, seems to be built on quite a beer culture that we have no desire to participate in.  Well, it was just an intellectual exercise, but it goes to show you it is a nice town!

Okay, I think that is enough for one night!

Hurry Hurry Hurry!

/ Shane / 7 Comments

If you like NPH (and who doesn’t?) or Once more with feeling, you better be quick and check out Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog.  Word on the street is that it is only free until tonight at midnight.

Basically, it is a short (~39 minutes) musical about Dr. Horrible (NPH) who is a sort of lame super villian.  He blogs and sings his way through meeting the woman of his dreams at the laundromat and fights with his archnemisis Captain Hammer (played by that guy who is in every Joss Whedon production, the one from Firefly).  It is fun and funny and the songs are actually pretty good.  It doesn’t try to take itself seriously, but it does kind of try to take itself seriously.

Anyway, if you’re looking for some time to kill, I certainly enjoyed it!

Edit: I forgot to mention that the link was courtesy InteractiveReader!

Voodoo Doughnut

/ Shane / 5 Comments

I’ve never really been one to to plug something I haven’t experienced myself, but InteractiveReader sent me a link to Voodoo Doughnut in Portland.  Now looking around their site, that is my kind of place!  First off, they spell doughnut the way I do, not “donut” like some sort of Homer Simpson ignoramous.  Second off, they sell delicious doughnuts, and even have a doughnut eating contest every month!

Of course there is the real reason that I was sent this link…the Bacon Maple Bar:

That item aside though, they have many delicious looking doughnuts that (dare I say) look better than certain cupcakes.  They also have other attractions too, such as marriage ceremonies (including coffee and doughnuts) and Swahili lessons.  What more could you ask for?

Jackie has offered to be our man-on-the-street reporter and visit the location, and I think I’ll take her up on that offer if it still stands.  But not for my sake, for her sake!  Because it looks like a place that can not be missed!

Do Pickle Pops give you a hang over?

/ Shane / 4 Comments

If you’ve been following the whole pickle pop saga, then you know that David Millar from Bob’s Pickle Pops saw my entry and interest in pickle pops and was kind enough to send me some free samples.  After you hear about something like frozen pickle pops, you just have to give something like that a try.  Plus, I originally dissed them without giving them a fair shake.

So, without further ado…

Pickle pops, old and new

They were actually different and tasted different too.  I thought the new version tasted better, although its appearance was more startling because it has little pickle speckles all through it.

My first reaction

Sara takes a taste (don't forget, she hates pickles!)

Allie's turn:

Dan's (admittedly fake) reaction

After trying the pickle pops, we all agreed that, well, “They taste pretty much how you expect them to taste.”  As I said before, I really love pickles and I have to say I was not really a fan of the pickle pops.  They didn’t taste bad exactly…I don’t know how to describe it.  It’s like when you’re eating a frozen treat your mouth expects a certain thing and a salty pickle is not that thing.  Unfortunately, thumbs down from all 4 of us.

But the experiment was not over.  Mr. Millar also mentioned making a “picklerita”.  I searched online but didn’t find any recipes, so we had to make our own.  I tried with just tequila, but it was improved with more tequila and some triple sec.

(Yes we are making these on the treadmill in the basement so as not to wake the baby)

Taste test

I have to say, after tasting the pop itself, I did not have high hopes for the picklerita.  It actually wasn’t as bad as I was anticipating!  Even still, if you have to have a margarita, for my money you are better off with the regular old kind, rather than a picklerita.  Although, of course, it did have a certain novelty factor.

But, as you can see, I drank it all:

So, in conclusion, I’ll have to take a pass on any future pickle pops, unless maybe if I get cancer.  But thank you to David Millar and Bob’s Pickle Pops for at least giving me the chance to find out!

This is starting out to be a weird week

/ Shane / 6 Comments

So, in case you missed all the unintentional humor on the previous post, I will now spell it out in excruciating detail.  So I had two unrelated topics to talk about, Pickle Pops and the fact that if I were a disease, I would be Rickets.  Naturally, I made a nice title that tied the two together, and perhaps a long the way might have implied that Pickle Pops may be linked to a certain horrible disease.  Now you’d think I would have learned my lesson with the last brush with the magic that is Google Alerts, but apparently not.  I certainly never expected someone from the company to find my blog.

Let me set the scene for you.  It’s Monday morning, a man comes into work all bright eyed and bushy tailed.  He sits down at his computer.  “Aw great!” he says. “Another blog talking about this awesome product we’re selling!  We’re really starting to take off!”  He then looks at the title of the post mentioning his product.  “Do Pickle Pops cause Rickets?”  His smile slowly fades off his face as he blindly gropes for his antacids with one hand and his lawyer’s phone number with the other.

I mean, I don’t know if that’s how it happened or not, but just the thought caused several fits of hysterical laughter throughout the day.  Oh man, even now I’m laughing!  Too funny.  I changed the title of the post even though he was a good sport about it.  I mean, even without the title, I didn’t exactly give a glowing review there.  I mean, I can’t conclusively say Pickle Pops do NOT cause Rickets, can I?

Along those lines, I decided to go on over to Bob’s Pickle Pops and order a case to give them a fair shake.  I mean, I shouldn’t really dis them without a fair trial.  And I love pickles, I’ve been known to eat a jar in a sitting, so if I’m not their target audience, who is?  However, before you get excited, I have to say I will not be putting my money were my mouth is after all.  Sara convinced me not to buy them as even the thought of them sends shivers down her spine.  Unlike me, Sara hates pickles.  How much does she hate pickles?  Well, legend has it that when Sara was little her parents asked her what she should name her little sister when she was born.  Sara, having no desire for a sibling, said “Pickle” on account of how much she hated pickles.  So anyway, no pickle pops will be coming my way (despite their reasonable price).  So if anybody has tried them, please let me know as my curiosity has now been greatly peaked.  And, at the same time, if I could manage to get my hands on some Synsepalum dulcificum…

Finally, in completely unrelated news, we have not had any updates on a subject near and dear to my heart; Pirates!  Well, just because I haven’t been talking about them doesn’t mean they haven’t been busy.  4 tourists taken hostage, although what they were doing in pirate waters in their yacht to begin with is beyond me.  They are just lucky they were taking hostage and not forced to walk the plank immediately!