The Yearly Eastcoast Trip so far....

I've had such a wonderful time here (as I seem to have every year) that I wanted to share all the details of all the folks we visit when we come out East...but it would be too lengthy to account so I've decided against it. Instead, I should just say that the best part of the Christmas Holidays for me and my wife (and I suspect with all of you) is spending time with Family, Friends, and Friend's Families. You see, my wife moved out to the West Coast fourteen years ago. She said goodbye to a whole world of friends and extended family out here and subsequently visit with them only once (or twice when schedule and finances permit) a year since...typically during the Christmas Holidays. For the past seven years, I've become a part of her yearly migration back home.

We reconnect with people who themselves have come from all parts of the Country and at times the World to return Home for the Holidays. We've spent these past several days with my super-cute niece and nephew, my in-laws, several very old family friends and their families, and her oldest friend's family...just think my relationship with theDiscourser and his family. We've had such a blast chatting and reconnecting, eating and drinking, laughing and hugging these past few days that when we say goodbye knowing our next meeting would almost certainly be an entire year from now, it really is quite sad that we had to say goodbye.

So the Philly portion of our trip is over and now we travel to Washington D.C. and Alexandria to stay with another broad extension of my wife's family. We meet with her cousin and his new wife at the newly renovated American History Museum at the Mall sometime in the afternoon.

Check in with you later...and a HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!

Holidays with the In-Laws....

1. The Perfect Line has been kind enough to take care of the house and cats for the first few days of our yearly East Coast trip. Perfect all around considering the 24-Hour's of LeMons car is in a house ONE BLOCK AWAY. He and the rest of the "Huey Newis and the Loos" crew are working all hours and around the clock to get the car ready for it's first and ONLY shake-down run the night before the race. I drove by to check in on their progress last night and experienced incredible jealously in spite of all their labor and so envious of their opportunity to race! Next time, Next time for sure....

2. Packed for our trip....I got this packing thing down bitch!...and it's only taken 6 years to get to this point. Of course, cold weather destinations have a way of bulking up suitcases with thick clothing, but my goodness, every Christmas my wife and I CHECK an average of 100 LBS of luggage in 2 massive suitcases...basically, we're talking the limit here. We've committed ourselves to going smaller and subsequently have been super-mindful about every item we've packed into our bags. My wife picked up a new mid-sized luggage piece yesterday and it ROCKS. This thing has casters from an office chair and it quietly glides along with barely a push. Anywayz, we've dropped the total poundage down from two 50 lb. suitcases to two 32 lb. bags....success! We've even imagined doing away with checked luggage on our Christmas Trips!...but then reality sets in. Our Christmas Trips are two weeks long and our bags also carry Christmas gifts. We are invited to formal events as well as casual events, we bring hiking clothes as well as running clothes, dinner out wear and long drive attire, snow clothes and rain gear. There is no possible way we can bring it down to a Carry-On. In fact, I despise people whose only bags are Carry-Ons, I HATE THEM....I still have to break that emotional response down to its constituent components, but rest assured, I can't stand these people.

3. Chicago connection. Midway temp: 0 Degrees.

4. Philadelphia temp: A balmy 11 Degrees. Thanks to the GM for his expedition gloves. My pants are frozen.

Gotta go!....

Weekly Recap:

Sorry about not blogging. I realize now that not having a National Election took the wind out of my Blogging sails...but I'll try to come up with something today.

Put up the Christmas lights inside and outside the house.

Had the GoG over for dinner and gaming on Saturday. We had a great turnout: The Warden drove down from Sacto, the Acupuncturist returned from his Internship in China, The GM, NTT's Brain, the Prof., Rave-boy, Mighty-Mook, and theDiscourser all attended. I took them out to dinner at Burgermeister, an award winning burger joint in Alameda.



Then a short stint at the Hobnob, a cool gaming pub a couple of blocks down the street in downtown.



Then we returned to my pad for some gaming...or we tried to game.



With this very distractable group, it is hard pressed for any GM to get a solid 10 minutes of concentrated gaming in at one time. Here is how it usually goes:

GM: "Your party enters a narrow corridor, its walls hewn from stone, a near mirror surface. You exit into a large cavernous room and far into its dark interior, you see shimmering movement...your floodlights reflecting off a shiny carapace, your eyes steal a glimpse of some demonic terror."

Warden: "GET TO THE CHOPPER!!" (Arnold Voice)

Discourser: "If it bleeds, we can kill it." (Arnold Voice)

The Prof: "I'm normally not a praying man, but if you're up there, please save me Superman." (Homer Voice)

Rave-Boy: "My character looks at his reflection in the mirror like surface....and can I reverse the polarity on my pulse weapon so that I can blow it up like in Star Trek???...and is that a Diamond Gem on the wall?!...I pluck it out with my Officer's knife...and...and...."

NTT's Brain: ....(continues to play guitar, giggling).....

Supergoober: "GM! GM! Is Amanda Veshell preoccupied? Is her back turned toward me? In that case, I aim the Minaren Assault rifle at her head...very quietly"

The Warden: "KKKAAAHHHNNN!!!!!!" (Kirk Voice)

Mighty-Mook: (rolling dice)...."I now have 57 OCV bitch!"....stands up and flexes. (Jason Poines Voice)

The Warden: "My balls itch..."

The GM: "Oh yeah! Check out my new Benchmade! The blade Steel is CMP-M4" .....(oh Lord, even the GM has now succumbed)....

The Discourser: "What is the riddle of Steel!?" (Thulsa Doom Voice)

The Prof: "maximum solubility of carbon in iron (as austenite) is 2.14% by weight, occurring at 1149 °C; higher concentrations of carbon or lower temperatures will produce cementite...."..................

The Warden: "Contemplate this on the Tree of Woe!" (Thulsa Doom Voice)

The Discourser: ....(points his buttocks toward the Mighty Mook and grimaces)....

Supergoober: "Dude, what is wrong with your ass!"

The Warden: "That is but child's play."(Major Toht Voice)....and proceeds to rip one of his own, nearly collapsing from the effort....

The Prof: "I take his XP! I take his XP!"

The Accupunturist: ....looks away in disbelief and abject frustration....

And this is how it usually goes. Splinter conversations, endless distractions, Iphones, Laptops, WiFi, Cheese Puffs, and Beer all add up.

Anywayz, that's it for now.

The Problem with Homo-sexual Penguins:

Interesting story:

http://tinyurl.com/5qzlrq

The Evangelical Penguins are up in arms!