We brought in the New Year with a bunch of friends. It was an awesome time. We laughed a lot.
It seems the older I get, the faster I want to go home after the clock strikes 12. I am happy to report that I did not fall asleep before midnight this year.
While at a local guitar shop, my brother-in-law Graham found a new use for his iPhone.
That’s right, slide guitar. Awesome.
If you haven’t heard any of the recent talk about the Nation’s unemployment rates and such “wonderful” news, you need to pay more attention.
I’m not interested in getting into political debates, but I did find this video hilarious. Enjoy the humor.
This video is from the MintLife blog, which I would highly recommend.
We have a halloween party as a tradition in our Kentucky Home. It’s the 5th party this year, and it was awesome.
There weren’t as many people as there were last year, but let’s blame that on the economy.
Here’s Jeff and his wife Kristin. Jeff’s a professional photographer, among other things, so thanks to him for the outstanding photos on the blog recently.
Every year we have a pumpkin carving contest. This year, for lack of pumpkins, we didn’t actually do that part.
There WAS a costume contest. The winners are the type that go all out for everything. I do have to say, it was probably the best costume I’ve seen in a long time. They went all out… everything from the clothing to professional-style makeup. They think long and hard, then start on their costumes long in advance.
Here’s Clayton & Jes Rothwell, the winners of the 2009 Halloween Costume Contest.
We had fun. It was a great time with friends hanging out and having a party. One of the things I love about our church is that we LOVE to party! Because of all that we have been given in Christ, we have more reason to celebrate than anyone else. And you better believe that we do party!
Here’s a picture of me and Steph. Our costumes weren’t nearly as cool as Clayton & Jes, but we had just as much fun that night.
We put petunias in the hanging baskets on our front porch. They not only look nice and their leggy nature works well in a hanging basket, but they smell wonderful!
Because of the miracle of modern technology, I’ve been able to include this scratch ‘n sniff picture of one of the petunias.
Scratch 'N Sniff
If it doesn’t work, refresh the page and try again.
Last night we went to El Tarasco, a great mexican place, for Jeremy’s birthday. It was a surprise to him, but since he doesn’t like surprises, his fiance Lauren told him about it before they got in the car.
Jeremy isn’t a fan of surprises or being put on the spot. So when he saw the waiters putting together the birthday celebration package, he took the opportunity to go tell them that it was MY birthday instead of his. So, the waiters came out with a small dessert and a sombrero for me. They sang a little song and I got to wear the sombrero for the rest of our visit. It was actually a pretty nice sombrero.
So here’s some pictures for you. One of me wearing my “birthday” sombrero, and one of Jeremy, who finally put it on before we left.
Stephanie and I are currently doing the one-car dance while the jeep is in the shop. Today, I am spending about 13 hours at the office with Lucy. We’re not complaining… we’re getting lots of work done. However, we got a little stir crazy. It’s crazy cold (for Louisville) outside so we’re not playing fetch or anything beyond typical potty breaks.
Lucy started asking about my computer and the pictures Stephanie and I took a while ago. We went to a big waterfall…
went flying around the world…
and then to my brother’s house for Christmas…
After a long discussion about how the camera worked and how we were put in the pictures using special magic, Lucy still didn’t understand.
So we just took a regular picture together.
I don’t know that she liked being held up for the camera. It got a little crazy after that.
But then, all thanks to the magic of Photo Booth, I lost my head.
And that concludes our break. Now, back to work.
Lucy, you collate those and I’ll work on this.
If you haven’t heard, I purchased a Jeep Wranger in September. I was, and still am, a HUGE fan of this jeep. It’s been a childhood dream of mine to own a jeep. Last year I purchased an ’84 Jeep CJ-7 to fix up. Here’s a picture.
Maybe I was overly-ambitious. I’ll let you decide.
After trying to work on that jeep and coming to the painful realization that I neither have the time, nor tools, nor knowledge to restore this jeep, I decided to sell it.
Enter the TJ. In 1997 they switched the suspension in Jeep Wranglers to coil springs, giving you a smoother ride. Here’s a picture of my TJ.
Yeah, it’s pretty awesome.
Recently, we have had a series of snow and ice storms that have left most of Louisville without any way to get around town… not me. The big All-Terrain tires and 4×4 capabilities of my jeep have let me motor around town with a big smile on my face. It’s my Snow Beast!
You know you’re jealous!
I would offer you a ride, but it’s temporairly out of commission. I think I had a little too much fun in it.
(I would like to take this opportunity to attiribute all of my “skillful” snow driving to my friend Alex Acevedo, who taught me how to go “wheelin” in my CJ. Alex, we will ride again!)
My imitation Cuban coffee. Thanks Starbucks for the sweet demitasse cup.
We recently visited south Florida to see family over the holidays. While I was there, I had breakfast with a friend at the Empanada Factory, which I highly recommend. The food was amazing and the coffee addicting.
Ever since that breakfast, I have been craving more cuban coffee. For those of you who haven’t had cuban coffee, think of a shot of espresso, add a little bit of heaven, and there you go.
I recently found out that some family members are going to buy me a cuban coffee maker for my birthday. I can’t wait.
Stephanie makes fun of me because I have “too many toys for coffee.” You see, she doesn’t drink coffee. Truth be told, I have a regular drip machine, a french press, solo press, pour over and an espresso machine. They are all wonderful ways to make coffee and really do meet different needs. As my father-in-law says, “it’s the right tool for the right job.” And he would probably agree because he drinks a pot of coffee a day…
But, on to more important matters. Today, while packing up our Christmas decorations and putting them back in the attic, I craved some Cuban coffee to help me perk up. I searched online and found a way to get close. It’s not as good, but not that bad of an imitation.
As I do with almost everything I eat, I took a picture just to share with everyone. Enjoy.
I’ve been slacking off. Ever since I got into Twitter, I have completely fallen off of the blogging waggon. I don’t think Twitter will ever kill off the personal blog. They’re way too different.
This year, I hope to become a more active blogger. One of my resolutions is to actually take pictures with my camera instead of bringing it everywhere and never taking pictures. The other is to be a more active blogger. Nothing sharpens writing skills quite like practice.
I have the cutest niece and nephew alive. Sorry to all of you who read this and were under the illusion that you have the cutest kids alive.
Wait a minute, only two people read this blog. Sorry mom and dad… you do have the cutest kid alive. But if I was not included in the competition…
Check this out to see what I mean
While in the Smokies, we saw a bear. It was the end of the first day and I loved it. Our hearts instantly raced as soon as we noticed the bear but it was over too quickly to react in any way. It was really cool to be able to see a bear out there without any real danger. It was also nice to know that the bear was afraid of me… probably because I am an intimidating person. It’s true.
We didn’t get a picture of the bear. However, I did find this video on YouTube that looks quite similiar to what happened in the woods.
I’ve recently become a big fan of mountain biking. I bought a mountain bike in college and rode it my last two years there. Then, I moved to Louisville and only got to ride it two times in three years. The problem was I didn’t have anyone else to ride with and I didn’t know where to go.
I bought Stephanie a bike a few weeks ago. I’ve been mountain biking every week since then. This picture was taken at Tom Sawyer Park which is pretty close to my office. The trails aren’t as technical or “hard core,” but they’re way better than the trails I experienced in Florida.
In the past I’ve talked about Wheelin. I would love to get into wheelin, but I can’t afford it. There’s so much to purchase and you can easily break your rig and then have to make expensive repairs. Not to mention my jeep gets 11 mpg. Mountain biking is definitely a good alternative. It doesn’t cost anything to go (except the gas to drive 15 minutes to a park) and your entire rig is less expensive than one weekend wheelin. Sure, you can blow money on any hobby, but I’d not.
I went to a friend’s little league game tonight. It was a lot of fun.
I’m not sure if I went because I can’t go to my nephew’s games because he lives 1,000 miles away, or if I went because I really do enjoy the Hofmeisters that much. Probably both.
Since when did little league teams sport College names instead of pro names?
It was pretty funny to see Aden and Malachi outside of church. They both looked at me as I walked up and sat down. I said hi to them and they answered like I was some stranger they almost recognized. Then, after a little while and one conversation with their mom, they recognized me and Aden was really excited to go tell Malachi “Uncle Dan” was there.
It’s nice to be the reason someone else is excited. Not because you did something, just because you showed up.
I can’t wait to have kids…
I have been lucky enough to be the perpetual hand-me-down-phone-guy. I get all these sweet phones because I don’t mind second-hand phones and these friends and family don’t want their old phone since it only takes pictures, has WiFi and Bluetooth, Will use virtually ANYTHING as a ringtone, has tons of organizational features like calendars, robust contacts, notes, laundry-folder, and doubles as an inflatable liferaft. It’s all good, but it doesn’t slice turkey in those paper-thin slices that you can see light and figures through. Yeah, the deli slicer on this phone cuts them pretty thick… but go ahead and upgrade. You deserve it! And you really could use thinner sliced deli meats on the go!
So my latest hand-me-down is AT&T’s 8525. It’s basically the best marriage of a PocketPC and cell phone, without loosing any of the Pocket PC features that smartphones compromise. Also, you don’t have to keep it’s own wheeling case… this one actually fits in a normal pocket without recommended suspenders to keep it up. Isn’t that great?
The camera on this phone is probably the best camera on a phone I’ve ever owned. It’s no iPhone, but it’s still pretty sweet.
All this to say, prepare yourself, world, for Dan’s latests flickr account. That’s right… pictures from everywhere… uploaded and shared just for you. You know you’re interested now. That’s right… you’ll be coming back soon. It’s ok. You’re allowed to do that. No, it doesn’t make you weird, sad, a loser, or creepy. well, probably not. Actually… why don’t I keep my pictures to myself….
