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Meat raffling on a Saturday, won some chops!

AJ Hawk Is Dead To Me!!

As I was informed of recently, I've been neglecting my blog, pretty severely. For many reasons, I had stopped updating. Mostly due to lack of content of suitable interest, but also because I was lazy. BUT I RETURN!! As you'll see, I've gone back in history, and added postings to where they should've occurred. Cheating? Maybe, but I call it one of the benefits of modern technology.

So this weekend was a big weekend. As you most undoubtably know, I'm a Packer fan. And this weekend brought a playoff game, which I was very excited to watch. See, they were playing the Cardinals, who they throttled twice this season, most recently being last week. If you saw the game, you'll know that the Pack did a great job of digging themselves quite a hole. Down 17-0, Rodgers lead the pack all the way back to a 45-45 tie to force overtime!! (a defensive spectacle, this was not).

At one point during the darkest, deepest depression, I had made the comment that I would burn my unlucky AJ Hawk jersey if the Pack lost. Of course, I was expecting something along the lines of 73-10 when I said that, but that's a minor detail. Many people had pointed out the unluckyness of the Hawk jersey. Even Dave, A LIONS FAN, mentioned that I brought nothing but pain upon my team when I donned said jersey.

"Why not wear the Reggie White jersey? It's always good luck!"

A true statement, I must add.

But the Pack lost in the end. So upon the completion of the game, I headed outdoors. To do what I know needed to be done. To rid this world of AJ Hawk, forever!!

For safety's sake, I used my grill. Also, because I didn't want to ruin the pavement or what I call grass.

You'd be amazed at how quickly and easily a polyester jersey soaked in lighter fluid will light. If you ever catch fire while wearing polyester, well, I'm sorry.

All that's left of the Hawk jersey. Yes, the grill's pretty much ruined too, but that's the price you pay. It was a free grill anyways...

And no, I'm not peeing on the jersey near the end (although I should have), it's just more lighter fluid.

Tubing!

Nothing will stop us! Not even bitterly cold -5 degree temperature. That just means we'll have the hill to ourselves. Unfortunately Kelsey wasn't feeling well, so didn't come out. But we had a great time. I thought I got a few videos while going down the hill, but my stupid camera (or stupid operator) was in time lapse mode, so the movie didn't work out so great.

A nice picture of the hill from the bottom, though.

Packers/Ravens on MNF!

Justin was kind enough to let me join him at the Monday Night Football Packers/Ravens game. Being December, and all, it's bound to be cold. For reference, the jump to the last cold weather game I went to, or take a look at all the layers I'll have on.

There's 4 to 5 layers there. Not shown are the insulated boots, but I had all that on at once.

My coworker Ricci and his wife Connie also made the trip out, as did some other Minneapolis friends of ours. Of course, Justin and I beat them to the tailgate by 3 or so hours.

Justin's seats are in one respect amazing. Right on the corner of the end zone, looking down the goal line. If the action is on the other side, well, you're screwed. Fortunately for us, all the scoring was on our side!

We also happened to sit next to the Raven's Fan Man. He's their ultimate fan! Can you tell?

End score, 27-14 Packers. Kelsey wasn't so happy (she's a Raven's fan), but fortunately she wasn't there to take her anger out on me!

Grandad Bluff

We went to LaCrosse over Thanksgiving, and Kelsey had never visited Grandad Bluff, one of LaCrosse's finest attraction (after the World's Largest Six Pack, of course).

It was cold, and a bit hazy, but we got a decent view of LaCrosse.

A panorama, which covers pretty much the whole city.

Pumpkin Carving

Soon it was time for our annual pumpkin carving party! Lots of people came with autumnal brews, and I made cider, as always. The carvings this year were quite intricate, especially one of Jake's, which has some neat shading. I wish I could remember who cut each one, but there were a lot.

Hello! Is it meeeee you're looking for? Yes, Lionel. We're looking at you.

We'll see you all again next year!

Larson/Boyd Wedding

Continuing the move forward in time, mid-October brought the nuptials for Kristen and Cameron. Their wedding was at the Mill City Museum, which was fabulous. A great time was had by all.

Here's the Larson family portrait.

Kelsey's niece and nephew, Tessa and Camden.

The sister picture.

First dance.

And all of us having a good time afterwards.

Oktoberfest '09

No commentary required here. Just the annual drunkfest. A fun time, for sure!

Ceiling Fan!

In my quest of catching up on blog posts, we must head back to September 2009, when I successfully installed a ceiling fan!

Previously there was a "boob light" in the master bedroom. Ugly and not a great light. Kelsey wanted a ceiling fan, and they're not that expensive, so I thought why not.

Removal of the light and installation of the fan was straightforward.

Although the fan motor was heavy, and I got a little confused with the wiring, it all seemed to work.

Tada! And four months on, it still hasn't fallen on us or burned the house down!

House Changes Color

It was time to paint the house. The white paint was peeling, fading, and in generally really bad shape. The grey trim was also not doing well, and the whole red stain thing wasn't great. Since we were planning to do a whole house paint job, the idea of changing colors came to mind. Now, changing the main color would've been hard, and expensive. Basically, going to or from white requires multiple coats, and more prep.

A before picture, for reminders.

We changed all the trim to blue. Very blue. Way bright blue. We didn't expect the color to come out this way at all, we were aiming for something darker, more toned down. Maybe it's just the shock of the color change. In any case, the white is nice and bright now, and you won't miss our house on the block! It'll fade, right?