Category Archives: Drink

Birthday Post: I’m Gonna Cramp Up…

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Every year that flies by, I become more aware of things that really matter.  This is obvious, but for someone that moved back to his college town, it’s a harsh reminder of the re-evaluation of priorities that must take place.  I know I seem more mellow than before, but maybe it’s because I can’t stay up till two in the morning and expect to feel rested AND get to work in time.  But I am already boring myself with this post (and definitely the 5 of you that happen to read this site).

If you don’t already know, I work in marketing and I relish the idea of constant communication and interaction with others.  Unfortunately, this was not one of those days.  To keep things short, my day was hectic from the very beginning.  On my drive to work, I received a phone call from my boss, making me aware that I had sent outdated documents for review to management.  I owned up to my fault, noting that I had another 43 items on top of this from the previous day’s to-do list.  This set off the tone for the rest of the day.  At work, I had at least another 20 or so items to complete for the day — not much room for celebration.

And THIS is what sucked about today.  I’m not hating the work or the assignments, but when you pair this with an awesome cubicle thrashing from my co-workers, an excellent cake with humorous decoration, tongue-staining blue icing, a mustache, and enough candles to set off the fire alarm, fruit decorated with novelty black-framed glasses and giant nose, big as your face burritos y mas from Chuy’s, a birthday card that is NSFW, headphones blasting the smooth sounds of Chromeo, AND 75+ birthday greetings via Facebook, Twitter, Email, text, and phone — it’s ridiculously difficult to do anything but smile meekly when being greeted, “Happy Birthday,” by boatloads of people.

BUT AGAIN, IT COMES DOWN TO PRIORITIES.

Work is definitely one of my priorities (unfortunately a BIG one), but I had a chance to spend some time with a handful of friends tonight and realized that my family and friends SHOULD BE and IS/ARE my #1 priority (shoot me if you disagree, but chances are, you’re not my friend if you disagree).  On the drive back to my place, I had a moment to reflect on all of the birthday wishes and realize that after the fact, the short messages from all of my friends and family made this day and year so much worth it.

A postscript: I also received a lot of messages from my High School friends, and while I am still a bit apprehensive about my upcoming class reunion, I really do look forward to seeing some of my good friends (hence my graduation photo above).

And now the thank you shoutouts:

Mom, Dad, EC, Maria, Carlo, Ian, Ashley V., Rhiannon, Alee, Adam, Allan Uy, Christy, Madee, Erica, Edita, Katie Joy, Sharon, Christina M., Marlo, Emily M., Adriana, Karen, Meredith, Biddle, Jen Strickler, Lindsay W., Muzquiz, Kelly, Marisa, Rachel R., Michael Todd, Sara (T) B., Katie C., Chris (Rico IV), Leeho, Canez to the Sion, Cody, Terence Tang, JD, Lisa D., Kristen Beth, Eddie N., Eckberg, Hea, Uncle Henry, Clarissa, Kristin V., Casey (Skydive McGee), Geraldine, Kelby, Kristin (who’s glad I was born), Cliff, Joelthecow, Rosanna, Malaboobs, Jennifer Spunky, Andy (chairman of the board), David Dancefreak, Nicole, Clarinda, Alain, Tariq (p***y), Heather McL., Mr. Myers, Jim Keyboard, Lindsey Z., Tiffany C., Fred Q., Joe (MCS), Maria M., Sly, Major Ryan, Amanda Deathray, Michael L., Nary, Frances, Valera, Marie kiki, Jenni Sagebucks, Ally P., Brian I., Missy Q., Emily A., Jillian notahickie, Amanda L., Susan (M) C., Mr. Dunlap, Anthony L., Janie M., Jill A. hoola hoops, Cat, Cimberly, Hubert, Aeisha, Don Juan, Judy N., Liz M., Jessica J., Gavino, Tam (soun), Jason H., Sarah PQ, Crystal C., Sandra (spoon), Erin D., Luis G., Jermaine J., Sylvia S., Irma, Lucy, Monica R., Bo, Laura D., Pedalmikester, Lisa 2, Coleman, Maria (by the lake), Richard L., Rob P., Yvonne, KGloria, Angelica C., Shaheen, Angie, Albo, Daniel V., Ika, Lily teacher, Agent Eddie, J-bang, Uncle Tito, Ryan Y., Amanda G. P., Thomas W., Ravina, Czarina, Gennie, Erika W., Jeffery W., Jessica and PJ, Sisa, PJ G., Amit, Jessika S., DeAnn, Chris Garr., Ray H., Mario V., Dr. Klago, Carlajean, Elaine BC, Ashley P., Canlas, Janice Joy, Julius, Tiffani, Celeste, A-Mo, Tek Munny, Joy the littlest Bernardo, Jennifer S-S., Timmy Chang, Sam N., Jason F., David S., Kim P., Jason A., Reden, Caroline M H, Ashley Summer, Rachel L., Kathleen GK, Buddy, Ronald S., Eddie G., Liza L’H., Wu, Alison A., Lance, the Jeremy, Anita, Tomas, Raisa, Chris Bat., Bryan SocialUprise, Sara K., Paolo, Eugene, Nessajoy, Staudt, Jim M., Cynthia, Heather K., Elsa, Jose, Emily A., Sherilyn, Kellie, John P., Brian S., Shaun B., Chris B., Chris G., Lisa S., Barbara E., Susie A., Randy D., Irene, Xerxes, Kristini, Frank, Tony, Kat, Allan, Kat, TJ, Gayle, Ashjoelle, Dean, Marcoose, Zaid, Trish, Jay Jay, Neal, Huck, Marc, Heidi, Krissy, Erwin

I have the sneaking suspicion that I forgot a few people, but you get the point (and my hands are cramped).  Thanks so much for making me feel special.  It was only fitting that this post has taken me right into September 9th.  Here’s to a great year ahead for everyone.

Tony and Kat make my mouth water.

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Blog in progress, but right now I’m at Kat’s place for a delicious dinner that Tony and she are preparing.  This is sure to be a truly lovehandled experience.

As the night progresses, I’ll post pics, but this is what I’ve managed to figure out:

  • Cantelopes (some wrapped with prociutto)
  • A salad medly of cantelope and honeydew, tossed with lime, cilantro and mint
  • Shrimp stuffed with crab cake
  • Something called Brocolli Rob
  • Risotto made with shrimp stock and tossed with avocado and shrimp or crab
  • A bruschetta of some sort
  • Homemade Apple Pie with Caramel and Vanilla Ice Cream

This is sure to be an omnomnom experience and a truly needed night of food with friends.  I’ll edit and spell-check this post later tonight.  Be jealous.  More pics from the dinner:

An Epic Night of Cowboys and Wingmen

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img credit: foundphotosljThis is going to be a tough post to write because in my head, tonight is more epic than I can ever express, but I’ll try. For some mood music, try this song: SouthFM – Dancing Like This

To preface, this is the sequel to the ‘Timmy’ post from a few days ago.  The plan was to go out one last time to celebrate Tim’s departure from our company – so we decided to kick it at the Broken Spoke (apparently an Austin landmark noted for it’s live music, dancing, and country celebrity connection).  I’ve long heard about this place, so I was excited to go.

Aside from the random dummy with Kinky Friedman’s likeness at our table, the odd thing about this place was the amount of young looking girls at this place.  These girls appeared to be TCP material – you know, To Catch a Predator material from the infamous Dateline NBC segments.  Only thing is, I thought this dance hall/bar/restaurant was at least 18 and up.  Why am I going on and on about this TCP issue?  Well, it plays a vital part to the story…

After waiting a bit, all of Timmy’s crew arrives and we decide after much trepidation to pay the cover to enter the dance floor.  We grab our seats to the left of the band and soak up the environment alongside more drinks.  Another friend, we’ll call her Rachel, suggests to MT (another friend) and me to find some dance partners and points out a table of 3 ladies across the floor from us as she gets up to dance with Tim (she is an excellent wingman btw).

Let me make one thing clear: I love live music and have danced my share of dances from time to time, but Texas Two-Step is a style that eludes me.  (Seriously, there are two quick steps, 1-2 slow steps.  At best, there are 3 beats.  Most of these songs are in 4.  So I have “quick quick, slow” or “quick quick, slow, slow” to songs in 4 and they call this “two-step”?)  Of course, MT goes across the way to dance with one of the ladies at said table, as does another gentleman…

By this point, I had been relegated to people watching and I notice one of the girls from the lady-table looked younger than her friends (more like younger than everyone else in the room).  Her dance partner, we’ll call him ‘Cowboy’ seemed a bit older than her and I remember thinking, “How sweet; a father daughter dance…” except they bear no resemblance to each other, and I swore I’ve seen Cowboy dance with every other woman in the bar.

Tim, MT and Rachel join our group back at the tables and immediately Tim mentions the younger girl (let’s call her Rhubarb) and the TCP Cowboy.  As we joke about this, we notice that one dance leads to another.  The standard guy banter is exchanged between me and Tim when we notice they walk off the dance floor, just out of view from us.  Tim and I exchange awkward eye contact, then a high-five for the ‘conquest’ that seemingly occurred in front of us, and explain our observations to Rachel and Rudy (another friend).  Meanwhile MT has joined the lady table after a few dances with Canada (that’s what we’ll call her).

Between dances and drinks, Tim, Rachel and I notice Cowboy dancing with random ladies throughout the night, but his attention seems to be on Rhubarb.  After a series of dances, his last dance ends with a fancy dip of Rhubarb, with his creeper ‘Amish’ beard mere inches from her face.

[More uncomfortable glances between our trio]  Cowboy and Rhubarb are now whispering to each other on the dance floor.

“Ugh.  They just shared a moment…”

“No no no.  He’s just asking to add her on Facebook”

Now, my ex-roommate apologized to me earlier in the night for not being able to come out and be my wingman, but I witnessed the single greatest, nay, EPIC example of wingmanedness on the dance floor:

Canada (whom we hadn’t met yet) walks to the floor and pulls Rhubarb away from Amish TCP Cowboy and provides refuge at lady table.  ATC looks forlorn and lovehandled (shameless plug) for all of two seconds before he finds another victim.  As this happens, Rachel and I burst out into applause as Tim suggests we join MT at the other table.

After talking to the ladies, we learn that they’re close to our age and are visiting from California.  Rhubarb turned out to be 25, though she is quite young looking (so much so, that my friends would give me a hard time if they saw me checking her out, not that something of the sort has ever happened).  Her friend, Canada, had been dancing with MT throughout this time.  Their other friend, Paula Abdul had shared our sentiments about the oddities of the night.  As the bar closes down, we decide to find somewhere else to drink.  While we are leaving, ol’ Jebediah the Kid confronts Rhubarb and kisses her on the cheek.  Rachel attempts to extract Rhubarb from the situation, but Canada and Paula are there to save her.

To make this already-long story short, we all had a great time tonight.  We wound up going to Black Sheep Lounge after Broken Spoke closed, but found they were closed, too.  We settled on Barton Springs Saloon where we talked about food boners, cupcakes, and the California girls lacking daisy dukes with bikinis on top.

There is more to this story, but I feel I would embarrass those involved, so I’ll just say that the rest of us also had a chance to play a little wingman.

img credit: foundphotoslj