Just Plain Chips

I’m heading to Austin today to see my wonderful girlfriend. I’ll be there through Monday, so it will be a nice long weekend in the Texas heat.

I went to see Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie last night. I must say that it was a disappointment.

I’m sorry. Was I supposed to be blogging here?

The week started out pretty fun. What with movie-oke on Sunday night. Then getting my butt kicked at an aerobics class on Monday night. Then watching my friend almost make it on to the St. Paul Bouncing Team on Tuesday night.

But all was not right with the world. I bought a Gatorade on my way home from aerobics and I think the convenience store clerk coughed on his hand before handling my goods. So starting Tuesday I didn’t feel to well. I battled through on Wednesday because I had a lot of work to do, but then I went to bed way early. Then yesterday I went home from work early and slept the afternoon through. I woke up in time to eat, watch Smallville, My Name is Earl, and The Office, before heading to bed once again. I woke up pretty iffy this morning and decided a little more medicine and some more sleep might do me good. They did, I’m back at work. Not 100%, but better than this morning.

Who knows what kind of fun my weekend will bring?

Okay, you wanted some pictures from the party. Unfortunately, due to the effects of alcohol and my wish to try and keep all of my guests entertained my pictures are concentrated towards the earlier portions of the night and thus on my first few guests. I had meant to at least take a picture of everyone as they came in but that didn’t happen either.

So I’ll just show you a few.

Here was the spread on the kitchen island. Almost anything you’d want to make pizzas.

Katie took some time out of the busy party to get some important work done at her leather topped desk in the leather ceiling-ed study.

Jim and Suzanne were looking quite swanky and just adorable, as always.

Did I say that this was a swanky party, or what? (thanks for classing the joint up Suzanne)

The shower in the master suite is larger than most of those ladies’ (Katie, Rachel, and Suzanne) bathrooms.

Like I said, it was a fun night. I wish I had more pictures from it. Steve posted a few, so go check them out.

Well, I had a pretty good time this weekend. After all of the activity here Saturday night and Sunday morning I’m feeling a bit lonely in the big house tonight.

The big party started about 6:30 or 7pm on Saturday night when Katie and Abby showed up. Katie had offered to help me with the shopping and setting up for the party but had had kind of a wild night the night before and was confined to her bed all day. But that’s okay. Somehow I managed to get all the shopping done and I think the only thing I forgot was Coke, which my brother got later. But Katie and Abby showed up a little early and helped me with some of the preparations. And they also helped me start eating the crackers and cheese. Mmmm.

Before too long people started showing up. I can’t remember the order that people came so I’m just going to list them all in no particular order. My brother Matt and his wife Jenny, Steve and Linzy, Suzanne and Jim, Rachel and Shawn, Thad and Rebecca, Kenneth, Kaari, Chey, Kelly, Lauralee, Vasilia, and Magnus.

Read whole post…

Okay, I really want to write about all the fun adventures I had on my trip. And I really want to post a few cool pictures from where I went. But I’m feeling miserable today. I think I caught a cold or something from my brother in LA. Plus, instead of resting and staying warm today I had a delivery to make this afternoon. Lots of hard work lifting cabinets out in the cold and the wind. Just what the doctor ordered!

Oh, and the national championship game is on right now. I gotta go.

I had an awesome trip.

I’m back in Minnesota now. I’m pretty beat. There was just so much fun stuff to do over the last week that I didn’t get much sleep. Plus, I got up at 4am this morning to catch a cab to LAX. Of course, it’s really only about 7pm for my body right now.

Austin was really great. The weather was perfect the whole time I was there: highs in the 70s and low 80s. Allison and I got along great and somehow didn’t get sick of one another. We packed a lot of different things into a few short days. I have a bunch of pictures and a bunch of stories to tell. But you know me and blogging, it will probably be a little before I get them all written down.

LA was a little disappointing. The weather was just really bad. It rained nearly the entire time I was in California and the New Year’s Eve block party we were going to got cancelled! What a bummer. But I had fun with my brother and I got to meet his girlfriend Natalie who is just a bundle of fun.

I hope everyone had a great New Year’s themselves. I’ll get back to you with stuff when I can.

I know it’s only Christmas Eve, but you know me and my posting schedule, so I figured I’d get my Christmas greeting out there.

Brian got into town last night. He, my parents, and I watched some Bond and then played some poker and had a little Scotch to celebrate his homecoming. Oh, there was also some cookie baking and meatball making going on as well…and tasting of both.

Today there will be some wrapping of presents and more chilling out. My aunt, uncle, and a couple cousins are coming over for dinner tonight. Then tomorrow Matt and Jenny and the kids will be around for presents and Christmas dinner. Not too much else. A fun filled, family weekend.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Don’t you hate when work gets in the way of life?

Luke had a Christmas program this morning at his school. But there were a few too many things I had to take care of at work. So I couldn’t go. Even the boss was able to head out. Rats. He’s a little more mature than the last time he had a program, so it will probably be really cute. (not that kids crying for their mom instead of singing isn’t cute)

I hope to get a couple slightly more detailed posts up about the weekend, it was a fun one. I thought I’d try to get this one up right away. The second party of my Saturday night was Linzy’s graduation party. As are all parties at the Eck house, it was very fun. The main activity of the evening this time didn’t revolved around a drinking game though. It was a video game called Guitar Hero. Basically instead of a normal controller you have a guitar in your hands. You strum in time with the music while pressing the correct button on the fret board. It by no means represents anything close to real guitar playing, but it is the best air guitar simulator ever invented. And if you’re like me, it’s easy to get into it. There were some great songs to play, the controls were intuitive, and you basically transformed into a total rock star.

I took a few pictures from the night. But they were all pretty crappy. And the couple that were passable wouldn’t add anything to the pictures I’m going to send you to. Steve was kind enough to send me a couple pictures of me playing.

The first is of me playing Felicia. Early in the evening I won a battle against her and got a little cocky. And then a little later she rolled off about 7 wins in a row in which I believe I lost twice. It was an impressive streak to be sure.

And now, if you enjoy seeing Brenden embarrassing himself a bit (which people seem to enjoy on a regular basis for some reason) you’ll really like this picture. Remember how I said you can really get into the game. This next picture is proof. I wasn’t Brenden Johnson: mild-mannered cabinet maker anymore. I was Brenden Johnson: Legend of Rock and Roll. As Steve says, you really don’t get the full effect of the insaneness if you can’t see my face. So click on the picture for a closer look.

That picture is the first in a series of 5 taken while Tony and I battled. You should go look at the rest and other pictures from the night at Steve’s post here. The pictures are a bigger size over there as well, so they’ll give you an even better look at the action.

Anyway, it was a really fun night.

Saturday was quite the day for me. It started out like many other Saturdays of mine: lazy. I slowly got up and got ready for the day. I think I was finally ready about 12:30 or so, after a big bowl of ice cream. My accomplishment for the “day” part of the day was getting my car’s oil changed.

Later in the afternoon I went to visit Paul, Laura, and Evan. My parents were there when I arrived and we all doted over the little man and talked to his mom and dad. Just last May I had visited a zero day old baby for the first time ever. So here I am 7 months later and I get to meet my second newborn. Though this time I got to hold the baby! I was a little nervous, but I have a lot more practice holding babies since Elaina was born. He was such a good little guy and slept and was quiet pretty much the entire time I was there. He hardly made a peep right up until he realized he had soiled his diaper, which is the crying “on” switch. He bawled until the moment his dad sealed the straps on his new, clean diaper. Like a switch. But hey, who likes wearing a dirty diaper? I am pretty sure I wouldn’t.

I stayed for probably way too long until another friend of their’s showed up and I had to leave for my first party of the evening.

Well, not much exciting has been going on in my life. But that doesn’t mean fun stuff isn’t happening in other people’s lives.

Paul and Laura’s baby was born this evening at 5:17pm. A little boy named Evan Paul. We was 8lbs 11oz (!) and 21 inches long.

Hooray for new life and a new family member.

Phew! I’m back.

Back in Minnesota. Back in Eden Prairie. Back at work.

The class was really informative and interesting. I’ll be able to use the software almost as soon as we get the machine in the shop. So it was a good thing to go and learn.

Okay, I should start doing work.

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been too busy at work and have been staying at my godparents’ house where I haven’t been online a lot.

Right now I am in a Best Western hotel in Brookfield, WI, a suburb of Milwaukee. My mom and I are here for some software training for work. Oh, the excitement! The drive from Minneapolis wasn’t so bad today, sunny and clear. It is a bit chilly though.

The software we’re going to be learning is called ArtCAM, which is a 2D/3D package that will enable us to do some pretty cool things on the CNC Router we are getting in a week or so. It is pretty sophisticated though, so we need a little help getting started with it.

If anything exciting happens I’m sure I’ll let you know. The wireless here at the hotel is pretty fancy.

Well, if you’re in America I hope you’re spending time this weekend with friends and/or family. I think there will be about 20 people at Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’ place tomorrow. It should be a fun time, I’m really looking forward to it. Not to mention all of the food that will be there. If you haven’t noticed to this point, I am someone who enjoys eating tasty things.

Have a great weekend everyone. I’ll try to post, but I’m not promising anything.

A wise Southern gal told me that “The only difference between weather that’s too hot and weather that’s too cold is that you can lose a finger when it’s too cold.”

Which is true. I laughed pretty heartily at that. But I told her that Northerners like to wear gloves in the winter.

We just don’t worry about frostbite that much here. At least I don’t. But I don’t worry about much, do I? I guess parents worry about their kids not having warm enough clothes on, but what don’t parents worry about? And we try not to go out when the wind chill dips below -20.

Oh, and another thing. When it’s too hot, you can only take off so many clothes. When it’s chilly, I can just put on another layer when needed.

(two in two days? I should probably save this for some time when I haven’t written in a while.)

I learned a new skill this weekend. My mom finally showed me how to sew on a button. It’s obviously very easy, but I just had never done it before (that I could remember, I probably did it in 8th grade Home Ec.). I had two shirts and one pair of shorts in need of repair.

I am wearing one of those shirts today. I don’t know how many years it’s been since I’ve been able to wear this shirt, probably 2 or 3. I’m guessing it is out of style now, but I still like it. I had forgotten it’s brand but it is my one Abercrombie and Fitch shirt. I wouldn’t go out and say that I’m anti-A&F, but it is not a store I frequent. Not my crowd, not my price range. This particular shirt was a present from a girlfriend in college. I believe it was my 3rd or 4th year (that would be the “junior” or “senior” years for most people). So the shirt is nearing 5-6 years of age.

I seem to have a problem with buying clothes. I just don’t do it very often. I’m *way* too comfortable with all of the old crap I have. I just keep wearing things until they get a hole, and then I keep wearing them for a while. If I take care of it and no holes formed I’m almost more screwed as I keep perpetuating my horrible fashion sense for months and years.

It wasn’t something I wore “out” or “in places other than my bedroom or the workout room” but I still had a t-shirt that was 11 years old up until a few days ago. It was from my junior year of high school football for which the motto was “Strive for more in ‘94″. I remember two plays from that season. I played JV and both plays were in the same game, though I don’t remember the opponent. I had one carry for at least 10 yards and a first down when I made a sweet cut back move against the grain on a sweep. And I remember being wide open in the endzone when the QB passed to the tight end instead of me. When I didn’t get the ball I laid out a defender with a devastating block so the TE could make the touchdown.

I also finally decided that my old Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts probably didn’t need to take up any of my space anywhere anymore. Besides, I had the three least exotic Hard Rock t-shirts you could find: Orlando (who didn’t have that one?), Washington DC, and the Toronto Sky Dome (which I didn’t even visit, my dad got me that shirt on a business trip).

My sense of fashion is not well aligned with the upper-echelons of the fashion world. Or probably not even the middle-echelons. I wouldn’t say I dress “horribly” or “like a drunken red-neck” but no one will ever mistake me for a catalog model. I tend to favor either the “preppy” or “athletic” side of fashion, depending on the occasion. That means lots of button down shirts and khaki pants with a liberal sprinkling of jeans and t-shirts. Thankfully I haven’t graduated to full sweatsuits and v-neck sweater vests.

A couple of friends of mine offered to take me shopping for a clothes make over. We were going to do it last month, but there were too busy. I am a little thankful. While I’m sure I would have looked so fine and they would have helped me bargain shop, I just don’t have the money for any kind of fashion. What with my new digital camera, all of the parties I went to over the last week, and last but most, a three stop plane ticket for my upcoming whirlwind trip.

Man, after my fun weekend I was supposed to have a nice slow week. On Monday I watched Star Wars. Tuesday night I had a hot date with two lady friends. We saw a cheesy feel good movie because one of the gals has been having a rough time of it lately.
Then last night my parents, Claire, and I…I mean my boss, two coworkers, and I went to a couple clients’ house to check out the cabinets we had done for them. We made the cabinets for a basement remodel and they were beautiful. It was a bar and entertainment area. Well, I thought we were going to just look and chat for a couple of minutes and get out of there. But we did make a bar, so we all had a few drinks and some appetizers and the owner showed off his 100″ (diagonal) projection TV screen that drops down out of one of our cabinets. A couple hours later I was thinking that it had been a pretty nice business call. And work has just been too busy for blogging. So I haven’t got to write much.

I had a great weekend. All sorts of fun stuff happened. Too much stuff, in fact, to give me time to write about any of it. And then today in the mail I got my DVD of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith so I had to watch that this evening which doesn’t give me time to write yet again. If I was younger and had more energy I might stay up late to write. But I just can’t do that any more. Plus, my weekend was so exciting, I didn’t get tons of sleep and I’m tired. So I’m heading to bed for now.

Don’t you hate when you’re mad but there’s really no reason to be mad? And then just the fact that you’re mad makes you even more mad? That’s what’s going on with me.

Okay, because Graham asked nicely, I’ll tell the story of that last chess game I mentioned.

Let me set up the entire situation. I was in 8th grade and I was playing black in this game. My opponent was a little 7th grade girl from Glen Rose, TX, who was rated only about 1000 to my rating of 1300. Why was I playing a girl from Texas in a junior high chess game? Why, I was at the National Junior High Chess Championships, that’s why. This particular game was in the last round of the tournament.

Being in 8th grade instead of 9th and not being all that great I was playing in the Junior Varsity section of the tournament, which was mostly 7th and 8th graders. Not only are there prizes for being one of the top scorers in the tourney, there are team prizes as well. Every team takes their op four scorers in the tourney and compares them to the top four from all the other teams. The team with the highest score from their top four is the champion. In this particular tournament, in this JV section, our team was a pretty good one. We had a couple players that were top scorers overall and a bunch others that were doing pretty well, too.

Back to my game. I remember being uneasy with the position. I certainly didn’t seem to really have any advantage and like my friend Jay said, my bishop was on the wrong colored square to help protect my advanced pawn. And, at this stage in my career I was really uncomfortable in the end game; I had screwed up more even games than had I won.

So I was nervous, I didn’t want to lose to a girl rated 1000, and I was in the last round of the nation tournament. Let’s see, what else? Oh yeah. About the time my opponent made her last move (34. b4) my coach came up with a tournament official. The official was there to make sure my coach wasn’t going to give me any help with the game or any advice. He had a piece of news to give me. The news was: “If you draw or win this game, we (our team, Metcalf Jr. High) will clinch the team National Championship.”

Okay, no pressure. Just don’t lose this game you don’t know if you can win and your team won’t hate you. I thanked him for the news and sat back down at my game and stared at that board. I went through everything to see if there was some way I could pull off a win. After a while I looked across the board and asked my opponent “Do you want a draw?”. She agreed and Metcalf won the National JV Championship.

I finally went to get my driver’s license renewed. Phew! I’ve been under the radar of the law for way too long. I’ve moved like 18 times in the last five years, and a bunch of those moves were within the state of Montana. What finally prompted me to get a new license? It expired on my birthday a few weeks ago. That’s a good reason I suppose.

The whole thing from the time I left work took barely over 30 minutes, and that included going out of my way to the bank to get money. The service center was empty and I waited approximately zero minutes before getting called up to the counter. The gent there was friendly and helpful. My picture turned out alright, but I probably should have just had him take it again for good measure. I’ll get in in 2-3 weeks and I just couldn’t be more excited.