Merry Christmas every...Oh damm, Parker is out!

Hey gang,

Well, we have had a full two weeks since the last update: where to start...

Family- We did the Christmas party at the condo on the 15th; lots of fun. I feel bad for the Brussin's as they were all sick that weekend and could not make it over. But, our friends Amy, Wayne and his boys, my friends John and Nicole's friend Michele and Quino all came by - even her parents made a cameo. It was alot of fun. We did a gift exchange where I gave Amy, Wayne and Nicole gag-gifts for the gag-gift I got as a new daddy. We played some games, ate too much food and cookies and got the seasonal pic done - posting very soon :)

Chris is now 3 months old today- he is sleeping thru the night still, and now in the goo phase of babyhood. He is using his hands more and is very funny sometimes. He also gave me his first smile and its all worth it :) I am a very happy daddy :)

Steelers - well, let me say that if by some miracle they do good in the playoffs, then cool. Parker is out with a broken leg.. they also lost a game to the Jags, which makes me unhappy - especially when they should have done better. I think they were a bit tired and not ready for that game. They did blow out the rams and have Davenport scoring 2 TDs and 140 yds - TOO BAD HE WAS ON MY FANTASY BENCH!

....speaking of which, Carlos and Rick are in the Superbowl for the IFL. I lost my week 15 game, so Im in the looser bracket. I play Dave Brenneman again, and have a feeling I will loose..who knows.

GAMING:
We are back to World of Warcraft again. Here is the story here - Nicole was upset that I would play on the xbox at 9:30 at night and not spend time with her after Chris goes to bed. We did movies but I think she wants to do something more interactive. We talked about going back to the game with the knowledge that we would only play a few nights a week and only with each other. Wayne and his boys reactivated thier accounts for Christmas and they are on a PvE server, which means that the other faction in the game cannot attack you without permission to do so. This was a huge issue with us the last time, and we spent countless hours getting ganked by higher level characters with nothing better to do.

So...with that said, we created new characters and now play. Amy made a Blood elf hunter, Wayne made a warlock and a warrior, Nicole made another mage and I made a priest. A co-worker made a rogue and might stick around.. Trever made a warrior and has a 49 priest and Tyler has a rogue and the 61 Druid. We then created a guild called Circle of Friends and have most of the characters in it now - even created a guild forum just incase.

More importantly, Nicole and I made rules for each other as to not get too into the game and keep it sane. So far, we kinda did it over board, but its new to us again and we are playing together and having fun. Xbox will still be there, just not used a frequently as before.


MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! Next update will have some pics and gift news from the loot that we received from St Nic :)

Look for dunk-the-baby cards invitations in the mail and we wish you all a good holiday!

Steeler game review; deal of the day and some other random highlites

Hey gang, just a few things for the last few days:

Steelers: What the hell! Lets see... rain and ice in the forecast, so lets... replace the sod! what a disrespectful way to show colors on MNF. At least its a win... and lets hope the ground crew gets next week right when the bungals come to town..

DEAL OF THE DAY (week??): Best buy has HBO series DVDs on sale for 60% or more.. ROME: $32.. (hint hint- Xmas gift for Joe..), and all the others...Band of brothers(We got this one..), Sopranos.. all of em are on sale.

Got the T-mobile DASH: It comes with a free BT headset, so I can give one to nicole to use for her phone now. It should arrive in a few days, so that will be good. Maybe now I can remember all the plans Nicole makes for us and also use the calender for other stuff too.. Also, having mobile web and email isnt too shabby either :)

DEAL OF THE DAY (Bonus): Xbox live for $38 on buy.com. List Price: See Details $49.99
You Save: $11.00; Our Price: $38.99; Shipping: FREE
Buy.com Total Price: $38.99 Use the 5% coupon too:)

Christopher is doing well - he had his 2 month visit yesterday; 3 shots and he was good to go. he cried for about 10 minutes and then he was good :) Also, he is starting to sleep thru the night :) :D :D the last 3 nights we put him down around 9ish and he sleeps till 6am or so. He is maintaining 6 oz bottles too :)

Nicole has her Birthday next week! Look for an email invite today or tomorrow! (Big 3-0)

XBOX: Still on COD4; Scott finally got online and now has R6 Vegas, so we might be going back to that for some excitment :) I love R6 and always will be willing to give it a go (until R6 vegas 2 comes out..

FANTASY: Beat down Rick.. look for my next victim Sunday :)

See ya tomorrow!

Random Stuff Before Thanksgiving

Hey gang, just some random thoughts on the 2nd busiest travel day of the year:

1- Don't go to the store- I swear that there were about 20 cars at the Wendys drive thru today at lunch..
2- Todays best deal: TomTom for $130: This is the best time of the year to buy stuff. LOTS of good sales around....
3- I got Eric's Christmas gift: After I used 2 $10 coupons, a $5 coupon for an item, and a $10 gift card, it was dirt cheep - like $25.
4- Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays as a kid- we would goto my Uncle Berney and Aunt Nancy house in Cypress and play Civ with my 4 cousins, thier friends and myself. Turkey was excellent and lots of football.. this year, its almost the same. 16 people will be over at Tonys apartment this year, and I will be bringing a game or two to play :)
5- I'm loving COD4; last night we played some good matches, but I will say this- teamwork will make or break your score.

Travel safe and I will update everyone on Friday :)

Turkeyday approach and new way of blogging..

Hey gang,

Ive been doing this bi weekly blog for the last 2 or so years.. its been good and alot of fun, but I think I might modify this to be something more of a daily rant like a... blog :) I will see what I can pull off, so look for more posts about all sorts of BS like...

FAMILY: Christopher is now 2 months old tomorrow! HOLY CRAP MAN! The boy is growing bigger each day and getting the 'ohh so cute..' from the females in our lives. I think its time to goto Hooters with Chris for lunch :P Here is the latest pic: Chris meets Santa :D HE goes to his next appointment next week, and 3 shots will be coming his way :)

Nicole is doing well- she and I are going to try and figure out the 'get back to the gym' thing and might have to take turns or something to do a workout until he can sit in the daycare at the gym by himself... should be interesting.

XBOX: Its a good time to be an XBOX 360 owner recently. Lets see - the top 5 games on Metacritic:

1- 96% Bio Shock- a single player game that rocks
2- 96% Orange Box (TF2 and Halflife..)- pure fun
3- 95% Call of Duty 4- GAME OF THE YEAR. This is what I have been playing since last week.. go get it!
4- 95% Rockband - The game I would like to play with everyone at once :) and I call drummer :)
5- 94% Halo 3- yes, H3 is #5 on the list.. Great game and finished the series... or did it??

Least to say, this does not cover all the games like Mass Effect (Scifi RPG should rock..), PGR4, and many more. Im going to do the 'rent one and play COD4' thing.. figure if there is some downtime I could play the rental for a bit...

SHOPPING: ok- Here is the scoop; look for the Black Friday deals online before you go out. HERE IS THE BLACK FRIDAY WEBSITE ....use it wisely. So far since we have all our shopping done, if we did go, it would be for fun gifts for ourselves...but whats the fun in that :) EVERYTHING!! I will be trying for the $230 laptop at best buy, but doubt I will get it.


DEALS: Here is the best deal in town so far: Some bestbuy coupons for $5 off games- save the picture to your desktop, print em out and go get me a game :P

ho-ho-ho!


CELL PHONE STUFF: I need one.. anyone have suggestions?? I have t mobile and was looking at the shadow, but heard its not all that.. then I looked at the RIZR from Motorola.. and also now the blackberry (Jason has one).. Anyone ??? HELP!! I could really use a new phone as I usually get the short end of the stick for the last year or so..

PRE CHRISTMAS EVENTS: Yep - Christmas is everywhere and we have not even had a thanksgiving meal yet! Pre-Christmas sales, music on the radio, wreathes on the walls.. trees in the stores, lights on the malls.. and this is before Halloween!! Give me a break.. Yes, Im all for the ho-ho-ho ness of the season, but at least give me my fall time! For F sake, let the leaves get OFF the trees before putting lights up. Nicole and I passed 2 homes last week with lights already out.. Typically for us, we wait for the 4 day weekend and bust out all the bins, do the Christmas thing and enjoy the time off of work.

Maybe its cause gas is almost back to summertime prices... hmm maybe its time I talk with Dave about that mini cooper :)

THANKSGIVING: Should be excellent - lots of family and good food and thats what its all about :) 14 people this year over at Tony's apartment... yes, the one-room apartment will be loaded with all of us: Me, Nicole, my mom and George, Her mom and dad, brother and G/F Skye, Her uncle and their family and her aunt and Tony - and oh, the two kids Chris and Jason Jr.

..so I will eating outside on the steps :P

Pics and more Black Friday posts very soon!