Archive for the year 2010
Rock Band Night
Posted on October 20, 2010 by Ching under Things to Do.
We had fun hanging out with the Dills and Farrars a couple of weeks ago. I had my days mixed up and thought The Fabulous Fleshtones were playing at The Port of Wichita on the 9th. The actually weren’t playing until the 16th. The six of us ended up shooting some pool at Fox and Hound instead and then hanging out, drinking, and playing Rock Band at our townhouse.
This is a picture of Jay and Brian with Saif on speaker phone. Jay and Becca were looking through my blog books and we got to reminiscing about the good, old days of the Ponderosa Poker Posse. That’s when Jay had the brilliant idea of calling Saif.
When Ronnie and April showed up, we all drove to Fox and Hound down the street. As we were walking inside, Brian and I remembered that Cory and April were supposed to be doing a mystery shop at Fox and Hound that day and wondered if they were still there. That’s when Jay and Brian ended up drunk-dialing Cory also.
About five minutes before 11 pm, they all decide that we need a last-minute liquor run. We quickly paid our tabs, raced out the door and piled into our cars. Brian and I rode with Jay and Becca, while Ronnie and April drove separately. It was a race to the liquor store before closing time. I felt like an Amazing Race contestant. We barely made it in time!
We spent the rest of the evening back at our place, playing Rock Band.
I’d almost forgotten how much I love this game.
It’s times like these when I wish we had a bigger place. Our townhouse is so tiny and feels so crowded even if we just have a few people over. Brian and I really enjoy having company over, though.
This Friday Brian is making his delicious roast for dinner. We’re hosting the Phelpi and Dills for a pre-party dinner party. LOL. We got four pounds of meat, so that should be plenty. We picked up a bunch of stuff from Dillons for our dinner party and realized just today that we didn’t pick up any vegetables. Leave it up to us to serve an un-balanced meal. I don’t know how I ever thought we could be vegetarian. =P
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New Year’s Eve
Posted on October 19, 2010 by Brian under Things to Do, Travel.
The wife and I have been trying to decide what to do for New Year’s Eve. We toyed with the idea of going to Austin, Texas. We have looked into returning to Couples Tower Isle in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. I think we have finally decided to go to Vegas, specifically the new Aria Hotel and Casino in City Center. I told her that if I’m going to go to Vegas for New Year’s then I wanted to go to the newest, most up-to-date place in Vegas.
Vegas is known for its New Year’s Eve parties. I read somewhere that Vegas is host to over 300,000 people from all over the world during this time. They close down the Strip and open it up to foot traffic only. Then there is one of the largest fireworks shows on the West Coast.
Below are the details from all of the locations that we looked at. I even included a few links so that you can look at the places we’re considering.
Austin, Texas (12/29/2010 – 1/1/2011)
This is rated as one of the top 10 places to party on New Year’s Eve. Flying to Austin is out of the question. There are too many stupid flights and it is crazy expensive. It’s actually more expensive than flying to Vegas. Although, we can drive there and save a lot of money.
Austin has what they call “First Night.” It consumes a large portion of downtown Austin and is a large party with artist of all kinds. The event is capped of by one of the largest fireworks festivities in the state.
If we were to spend New Year’s in Austin, I’d want to stay at the historic Driskill Hotel.
Las Vegas, Nevada (12/29/2010 – 1/1/2011)
This is the place to be. Las Vegas offers a large variety of things to do. Personally, I think that City Center would be the ideal place to stay. It is the newest place on the Strip. It is located in the middle of everything and is designed so that you don’t need to leave unless you absolutely want to.
None of the hotels in Vegas are promoting their parties until November 1st, but I have a feeling that since they are the new kids on the block they’re going to party it up like none other.Aria is the place that I would want to go. Check out their web site above or pictures and info.
Ocho Rios, Jamaica (12/26/2010 – 1/1/2011)
Since this is the off season for Jamaica I could not find anything on festivities for New Year’s. On the up side, all of your food and drink are taken care of since this is an all-inclusive resort. Also, they just remolded this resort and added a new building. On the down side, for two people it will cost a little over $5,000 for the week for our room and airfare.
Personally, I still think that Vegas is the place to go. It is rated the #1 place to be on New Year’s Eve with New York being the second. It will probably cost us around $3,000 total for our hotel accommodations, airfare, food and entertainment; but it would be a hell of a way to end the year or start the new one (depending on how you look at it).
There are less expensive hotels on the Strip, but I think that Aria would be the coolest since it’s the newest. I called to see if there was any information on New Year’s events and they said that they would not release any of that information until after Halloween. Halloween is a major event for them (as with everyone else in Vegas), almost as big as New Year’s Eve.
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Only in Oklahoma
Posted on October 19, 2010 by Ching under Travel.
This is that billboard that made me do a double-take the first time that we drove by it. That was when we were driving home from Dallas. This last time, we drove by it on the way home from Houston. I asked Brian to take a picture of it because I figured no one would believe me.
From far away, all you can see are the words “liquor” and “meth” and then Exit 72. I was amused at the thought of how many people have taken Exit 72 who were misled by this sign. LOL.
Just so you know, they’re not selling meth at that exit. I thought I’d just clarify in case some of you were thinking of driving to Oklahoma just now. =P
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Casey’s Happy Plate
Posted on October 17, 2010 by Ching under Travel.
The morning after the wedding, Jenni and Brian and I met Jeff and Casey for breakfast. We needed fuel (not gas fuel, but food fuel) for the drive home. This is the happy plate that Casey made.
Speaking of, the hotel originally had two waffle machines. However, Brian had messed up one of them so badly the day before that they had to put it away. When we came down to eat breakfast that morning, they only had one waffle machine. Much to my to my relief, they didn’t charge us for it. LOL.
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The Rueda
Posted on October 17, 2010 by Ching under Things to Do.
The rueda was one of the highlights of Richard and Amy’s wedding reception. It was amazing and so much fun to watch. I was too slow to capture it on video, though.
Here’s a brief rueda demonstration by Strictly Street Salsa, the dance company that Richard dances with. You can see him in this video.
I wish we knew other people in town who enjoy salsa dancing as much as I do. I would love to learn how to do this stuff. We’d need at least two other couples, though. Maybe three. I suppose we should learn how to salsa first.
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