Coffeetalk

I got my new shipment of Kcups today including the new Green Mountain Dark Magic Decaf. It's pretty fly, although it still doesn't beat out my favorite (Timothy's Columbian Decaf).

I used to be a fan of light coffee until I moved to the West Coast. Coffee out here is usually very dark. I didn't like it at first, but it grew on me. Mostly because dark roasts are meant to be drank with a bit of sweetener and cream, and who doesn't like that? Finding a good dark K-cup can be difficult, but the Green Mountain Dark Magic is faboo as is the Deidrich French Roast.

Gaining Weight

Halloween

I've been gaining weight over the last month or so. I've been holding at around 155lbs since February. I like the way I look naked at that weight, but my face looks a bit gaunt and scary. There are examples of this in the Halloween pictures.

I'm back up to 160 now which seems to be a nice balance. Check out the Thanksgiving pictures for the general idea. I still look good naked even though the abs are a bit fuzzy now. But at least I don't have the face of a serial killer anymore.

Super Mario Marathon

I've been playing and watching Super Mario Galaxy for most of the last two days. I'm in the middle of beating Bowser for the final time now. It was nice to just relax with Jason and vegetate.

I did manage to carve out some time to balance my finances and do my budget for 2008. It's going to be a great year! I also picked up groceries, including ingredients for making dinner Tuesday night. It's a fatty white trash kind of dish, but it's soooo tasty.

Tofurkey With All The Trimmings

Thanksgiving Potluck

Thanksgiving was a rousing success this year. The BF and his roommate put on a potluck. It was amazing to see how much the holidays mean to people. As one would expect, there was lots of vegetarian dishes, free range turkey and organic everything to go around. It was delicious!

It was so nice, I actually got a little homesick thinking about Christmas coming up. For most people, it would be a given to try and make it 'home' for Christmas, but my family is boring. For one thing, they are all Pentecostal. We are talking "Let's bring out the snakes and the poison and see who's really holy" kind of Christians. They mostly deal with the whole gay thing by ignoring it. And praying for my salvation at the dinner table.

I usually avoided it when I lived in Michigan. It was a long 4 hour drive to visit them. I could only stand a couple hours of them before I would say something lame about wanting to avoid hitting a deer on the way home to get out the door. My parents divorced when I was 13, so Christmas isn't anything like it was growing up now either. They both have new families now that only marginally include my sister and I.

I will probably just stay home this year. The BF is going to be in Missouri visiting his Mom. Or go visit friends in Detroit. Or see if Fernando is going to Mexico and spending the holidays with his family. I think I could deal with "Ayayayayay" a lot easier than "Our Father Who Art In Heaven".

Punch and Pie

Jason and his roommate are having a potluck Thanksgiving tomorrow, to which I'm bringing punch and pie. Well, a couple bottles of pinot noir, pecan OMGyum pie and a pumpkin pie. I think I could actually bake a passable pecan pie, but I'm lazy AND a terrible cook, so I picked them both up at the store on my way home from work.

Work, which I left at 11am today, is going swimmingly. It's so cool to have a nice winders laptop with decent hardware (Core 2 Duo, 2g Ram, Good Video Card) so I can play winders games on it. It's already loaded up with SimCity.

Now that I'm working again, I'm starting to settle into a regular gym schedule finally. I'm not doing as much as I used to, but still, 4 or 5 days a week.

Work is Fabulous

I started my new job Monday. I must say, it is fabulous! The office culture is great. Everyone does their work and leaves. I've never liked the way I looked in button down shirts, so it's nice to be able to wear jeans and a t-shirt.

I picked up Super Mario Galaxy today. It's fun. I love seeing Nintendo doing good things with the Mario franchise. They really did neglect him for a while. The last two Paper Mario games, the new platformer they did for DS and now Mario Galaxy are just fantastic.

I also joined a gym this week. I decided on Club One. I wish they had a hot tub, but it's nice and practically a tomb even after work.

Sauce-Whore Cooking

The pasta really turned out well last night. My futzing with the sauce made it FABULOUS! The only change I would make next time is keeping a little sauce back for plating. Pasta alla Amatriciana is a bold, lusty, flavorful dish that looks bland on the plate. I think an extra bit of sauce poured on top at the end would bring the taste and the plated visual back on the same page.

Jason liked it. In fact, he whipped out the B word after dinner. :)

Today I'm planning on doing some shopping for my new job that I start on Monday. The weather has been in the 60's all week even though they keep forecasting 70's. NOTE TO GOD: I could really work on my tan this week, so if you could warm it up a smidge I'd be grateful kthx.

Pasta Alla Amatriciana

No I can't pronounce it either, but it's a fancy way of saying "Pasta with Tomato-y Bacon-y Onion-y Sauce". Yum. I'm going to buy some pans tonight and attempt to make this for Jason.

The Squirrel loved this dish when I made it, but it left me wanting something. Of course, I always feel like that when I cook - I'm genetically predisposed to being useless in the kitchen. I am going to try processing a portion of the diced tomatoes to make the sauce more Prego-y.

Home Sweet Home

Loft Pictures

So I'm finally taking some pictures of my apartment now that it is getting furnished. It's hard to get decent shots due to my lack of skill and small space, but you get the idea.

I did end up taking back the monitor that you can see in a couple of the pictures. It was a 22" monitor that used a 20" monitor resolution. The resulting image had a tendency to be a bit "screen door"-ish.

I do need to pick up some wall hangings still and fill in a few places, but I still can't believe how well this little 375 square foot loft is laid out. I mean really, I have room to seat four at a dining table (it expands - I keep it ready to serve 1), a full workspace for my computer, seating for three around the TV and the bedroom upstairs.

I did omit pictures of the bathroom. I tried, but it's difficult to get it framed correctly. And I mean, I think it's cute, but do you really need a Polaroid of my toilet?

Marin Headlands

Marin Headlands

I had a relaxing afternoon of eating cheese and crackers on a blanket at the Marin Headlands with Jason.

Then we threw down a couple patty melts at Bob's Broiler. Let me tell you about Bob. Bob is apparently a middle aged Chinese woman. The food was good Americana greasy spoon fare, but the walls were all Chinese Buffet.

Jason and I crossed the street to the Cinch to shoot some pool and have a beer to kill some time before going out to a movie. We do make a sharp couple, as was commented on by several people at said Cinch. My favorite comment was, "Wow, normally I would say get a room, but for you two, I say get a video camera. I'd pay good money to watch that!"

Too Many Gyms

Sigh, I hate to complain, but this city is chock full of mediocre gyms. I really wish I had a Lifetime Fitness out here.

I'm considering YMCA, Gold's Gym or Club One. Club One is similar in amenities to Lifetime, but MUCH MUCH smaller. Gold's has the crowd I'm used to from Lifetime. And YMCA is supposed to be decent and unique.

I liked Club One, but my corporate discount only saves me $6 a month :( And it wasn't really ideal location wise, but not bad either.

Gold's on the other hand would be only $30 a month! It's located two blocks from work. No pool, spa or towel service though :(

YMCA would be $65, but includes my own private locker, laundry service, located two blocks from my loft, etc, but has older equipment (I haven't been there yet).

I wanted to work out today, but wasn't in the mood to hear another sales pitch, so I went to Ikea instead. Schlepping home a floor lamp, side table and miscellaneous Swedish crap on public transportation is a good enough work out right?