Two Saturdays ago… We went to Dave and Tereasa’s house opening party. They have been working on this house for many years and finally opened to the public. And there was a lot of public… people everywhere. There kitchen is in a hallway, and given people’s inclination at parties to stand in either the kitchen or the hallway, this arrangement worked out doubly bad. I asked Dave what else they were meaning to do with the place and he said, gesturing to a row of Virgin Mary paintings propped against a wall, “Well, we’ve got the graffiti artist coming on Thursday to put some graffiti on those paintings.” To which I replied, “Yeah, of course.”

Also, my friend Alice told a delightful story about the time she saw Barack Obama outside of the California Pizza Kitchen and he was on his way to go buy lightbulbs.

Following the short week, my parents showed up on Wednesday for a big city Thanksgiving salute to the holidays. That night, we prepared tacos, and the next day, Bethie and I prepared about 10 pounds of macaroni and cheese. That is a lot of macaroni and cheese. We prepared it for the big dinner at her aunt’s, and about 20 people only managed to get through a quarter of it. We’ve since brought the leftovers home and eat macaroni and cheese at least once a day.

Friday we went out for all sorts of shopping and browsing and looking and then went to Uptown for some fantastic pho at Tank Noodle. Oh man, it was good. If anybody ever wants to go eat Vietnamese food sometime, just let me know. I think I am in love with the stuff now.

Saturday, I worked, but while I worked, thanks to the miracle that is internet technology, I watched my high school football team win their state championship. Isn’t that something?!

Also, for everyone who hasn’t gotten me anything on my amazon wishlist, feel free to peruse this nordstrom list… or my zappos list.

is the Barack Obama of sodas.

If you’re the type of person that likes to look at the right side of this blog, you might have noticed that I’ve added for you a button that links to my Amazon wishlist. Such that you might go there and procure something for me.

NOTE: This wishlist is sorted by default to date things were added, and not by the order in which I would like to receive things. To see those results, please sort them by priority.

Also, this is what my mom thinks of my list:

“Your Amazon list paints a picture of a violent communist with money problems who likes to gamble.”

So Friday night I bought an xbox and now I am like a total L33T… The only problem so far is that the game I got is completely freaking terrifying and I’m wondering if I should even bother finishing it. I think I’ve only made it through the first level.

Yesterday, I got Grand Theft Auto IV and I’m more comfortable with that one. One of the first missions was that I had to take a girl out on a date. I think there should be a videogame just called “Dating.” That would probably be good for videogame nerds that don’t get to go on real dates. I’m not a videogame nerd. I’ve got a girl who lives with me constantly.

Speaking of which, we got our two couches out of storage and our tiny house is now a tiny home. We’re loving it, but we’ve got too much going on to take advantage of laying around.

Friday night, we went with Bethie’s friends Lynnie and Matt to a bar where you play board games. Board games not at your house!? Whaa? We played Cranium, and it was fun, but it was no xbox.

Saturday night, we went out with her parents as we had to crash a wedding to check out a band that will be playing at our wedding.

Sunday we drove way out to Bethie’s other friends house to watch the Bears game. They fried a turkey for the occasion, so i ate fried turkey skin and cookie cake and various dips. It made my head hurt.

So I sold my couch last night to a feller who had seen my ad. He comes around and I help him shove the couch down the steps and into the back of his car. End of story, job done, right? Wrong. Because this feller was also interested in buying the table and chairs we had listed as well. But he didn’t have no more room in that car of his to be hauling that stuff. So in my avarice to be done with the whole transaction and to have the monies required that I might buy an xbox, I volunteered that we follow him to his house with the table and chairs.

So six miles later, I get paid, and then, inevitably “Hey, do you think I could ask you a favor…” Oh brother. I should have known better than to have got myself into this situation. So I help this old boy shove the couch up 5 (FIVE!) flights of stairs into his place. There I was, in the rain, helping a guy I didn’t know move this crazy heavy couch out of a silly sense of obligation. This guy didn’t have anyone around to help him. Of course, it boggles my mind thinking what this feller would have done had I not been there. I helped him, and by the time we got to the storage space to get Bethie’s couches, it was closed.

So in summation, don’t let yourself get tricked into moving couches. It’s arduous, thankless work, better left to other, less fortunate people.

Didn’t enjoy:

Hamburger Helper. Bethie and I tried it because we had forgot what it tasted like. Now we remember it tastes just a little bit like throw-up.

Watched:

Iron Man. Nice job, John Favreau.
Role Models. Very many funny jokes.

Purchased:

A new jacket.

Did not purchase:

An xbox. One day soon, though.

So just as soon as I’ve got some grandkids, I’ll tell them I was there that night that we got us a black president. What a time to be alive. Here’s my facebook status updates… you can read them from the bottom up:

I think standing around in a field with all the rest of the plebeians, I caught some of their poor people germs and now have a post-obama flu.

Tonight Bethie and I will partake in a little tradition we like to call Taco Night In America, or “Noches De Fajitas en Estados Unidos!!!” Last night we had a taco night, but we outsourced it from the taqueria. Tonight’s will be made in-house.

Vote for Obama, but don’t vote for any of the incumbents. I am sending a message to the big-wigs that I am not happy with the way things been running up there in Washington. Sorry Dick Durbin, but you didn’t get my vote this year. Call me and we can talk about it.

Also, if you’re polling place is anything like mine, bring something to read while you wait in line, and some thickly-soled shoes that won’t wear out while you are tapping your foot in frustration.

And her name is my fiancé.

We spent the weekend moving Bethie out of her apartment and into mines, while depositing stuff in a storage space along the way.

Key Takeaways:

-I threw away over 30 shoeboxes. 30 pairs of shoes! Really, Beth? Really? 30 pairs?

-For as much as I think Bethie’s car looks kind of corny from the outside, inside, it’s designed to hold a table, 4 chairs, a ladder and a bike. Spaciousness to the max.

Yesterday we spent the day organizing and hiding things to make our apartment not look like a trash house. I got to use my tools. I even bought a level. Wow, props to the inventor of that thing. Also, I hung my TV on the wall and I really hope it doesn’t fall off.