Christmas

So Christmas is over. To be honest I'm not too sorry to see it go. This year the time leading up to christmas was not so good. Don't get me wrong Christmas Eve and Christmas day were Tha BOMB.. I guess I will skip the potentially very long winded explanation of why because if you are reading this and you know me, then you know why.



So on with the events of CHRISTMAS:

The Eve of the Eve. Catherine went to work then came home. I was at home wrapping presents for a couple hours. Got some under the tree and when catherine came home we did the gift opening between her and my self. I got the Kevin Smith book that I have been wanting since it came out. Also a new Hoodie. I LOVE the new hoodie feel.

The Eve. Catherine went to work super early, like 4:15am. come home after a half day and we prep-ed for a night/dinner/christmas party at the grandparents (h's). We drove to eagan and meet with the h's at there house and there were a lot of the h's there. We had a ham dinner. Got to tell you though they do one of the strangest gift exchanges that I have ever seen. Everybody that came should have Brought 5 -1 dollar presents. So there was roughly 15 people.. hmm do the math 15 * 5 = 75. So they all get dumped in the middle of the room them we circle and roll dice for presents. If you get doubles you get to pick one. Then once the presents are gone, there is a set time decided at the moment of when you can roll doubles agian then steal a present. It was pretty fun. I got 4 and catherine ended up with like 8. It was pretty fun. I would say the most memorable for me is Kelly, Catherines sister. Got soooo pissed after catherine kept rolling doubles and she didn't. She's 10 and is a drama queen. so its very amusing. After we left we grabbed Kevin (Catherine's Brother) and went back to the apartment to grab our stuff so that we could sleep over at her parents house (very strange for me since this was the first time). It was pretty nice not having to drive from plymouth at 6 in the morning like last year. I had to sleep on the futon in the cold basement but it was worth it.

The Day: Christmas day was good minus the 2 am medical scare with catherines throat. She was having problems breathing. So when we woke up we did the gift opening with her parnets. I got a can of spaghetti from santa with a panera gift card taped to it ( can you say bacon turkey bravo ) and the salt and pepper griners that I asked for. After the gift opening we all got ready to Christmas day Mass. We went to Epiphany. It was pretty nice. Still kinda awkward when they go for communion and I don't get to. Meh, I'm getting used to it. After church we went back to the house to have breakfast. Catherine's dad makes omelette's they were really good. After that we packed up and drove over to my mom's new place. Got there and we started cooking. Catherine took a nap. Dad got there. Thats right for the first time in 16 years both my parents were together. First time since they were divorced i should say. It was fun, everybody had a good time. So we were cooking and when the ham got in the oven. I set up the Wii and mom, dad, and I played bowling on wii. After the 5th game Mike, Amy, and Anna got there. Then it was time to eat. After the second ham dinner in 2 days, I;ve had enough ham for a while. I was really good though. After the dishes we started the gift opening. I got a pair of boxers from Amy say Butt quack on the back (classic), a shirt that has the mustang symbol on it that says ride the pony (also classic), got an ordament that says matherine. From mom I got a button down shirt and Super Mario Galaxy for Wii. (YAY) Dad got me Guitar Hero 3 for Wii. (YAY) Of course I just had to play guitar hero right way. It rocked. then we cleaned up and layed around for a while and then we packed up and went home.

At home. Mind you that ever since the morning it had been snowing and because it was christmas nobody from the apartment complex had been there to shovel/plow. So we had a car full of shit, no I'm not kidding, literally a car full of stuff to bring in to the apartment from all three events. So I thought I'm going to pull up to the front door and go inside and get a cart and that will make the task so much easier. Well alls well and good until I get in to the parking lot and to the cul de sak were there had not been anyone driving to pack down the snow. Needless to say the pontiac sucks in the snow but trying to get threw semi deep snow is not good. Its not the buick after all. LOL.... So i drove in there and sure enough we got stuck! really STUCK.. tires would just spin. Took me and two other very nice people that came and helped pushing and catherine driving the car in reverse to get it unstuck. didnt take very long thank god to get it out. Then I just parked it and carried in all the stuff by hand. 4 trips but oh well.

Well thats pretty much it.. Pretty fun and eventful couple days. Thought I should write it down before I forget! :)

Holdem - love and hate

Isn't it funny that the word gamble means : to stake or risk money, or anything of value, on the outcome of something involving chance. Go figure that playing with online money would be so difficult. Its fake money but you have to scrap up every little last bit. I am finding it increasingly difficult to reach the next level of poker status on facebook at the moment. I actually see myself going backwards. The chips keep falling and falling out of my virtual pocket book like rain from a poker cloud.

To my dearest

Once apon a time, in the back of the walmart parking lot in Coon Rapids. I was fortunate enough to meet the most beautiful girl that I had ever laid my eyes on. Little did I know at that time, she would be the one that I would ask to marry me. Well hate to leave you hanging but... doo doo doo doo lalalalala.. LOL she said yes and since then my life has been filled with happiness and joy. I get the honor of sending he rest of my life with my honey. Her name is Catherine. I love her so much that sometimes I don't think I can express it with works. It almost comes bursting out of my like I'm spliting at the seams. Well were at less than 6 months to the big day. Were getting married on May 10th 2008 at Epiphany Catholic Church in Coon Rapids. We are all set to get it done, The only thing we need to do it get some center pieces and take to the priest. Then I will get Catherine all to myself for the rest of eternity.

Ode to the mustang

For those of you that know me and if your reading this then you would pretty much have to know me. I've had my 1992 Ford Mustang LX for 5 years. With my dad's help I purchased it from a man strangely enough with the name Matt. He purchased it from his grandparents who were the original owners. It had sat on there farm for many years and the engine had seized. Other Matt had a ford dealer put in a new engine drove it for a couple years then sold it to me. I drove it for a couple years and it was great then i started to have some trouble with the law and it sat in my dad's drive way for well over 2 years. I had always planned on fixing it up and making it faster with performance parts. I finally started what i planned to do from the beginning.

To this point I have replaced the stock exhaust manifold with a pacesetter long tube 4-1 header. Replaced the catilitic converter with a high flow magnaflow cat. Replaced the muffler with a flowmaster deltaflow 40 series muffler. The pipe is now 2.25 inches from the header to the back of the car. (it has a nice rumble to it). I have also replaced the stock air box with a cone filter and the adapter to hook it up to the MAF. I am currently replacing the intake manifold with a mildly ported stock one that was powder coated by Amy's ex-husband. I am currently looking in to finding a cold air intake that will work with the car (bends and sensor holes) that is also red.

Given that the car is a 4 cylinder and has an automatic trans. Also the man that designed that 2.3l engine with 105hp should be shot. I'm working on making it quicker but even if i never get it to go any faster I love this car, Its just something about the way that i feel behind the wheel of it. Could be the contro l that I have over the car and the way that it handles, could be the surprisingly sensative throttle. I am guessing that it was the second version of my first real car and I will always love it.