Grandpa's Birthday + Holiday Parties + A Date + The Bengals Bash & The Trivantis Holiday Party

So my birthday was this past weekend (Sunday actually. I turned 24. But on Saturday night there were two parties to go to. The first was my grandpa's surprise party. Everyone congregated early at my mom's house, including a number of the family members from St. Louis such as Mark, Jim, Missy, and Katy. The rest of them were all from Cincinnati. Grandpa got lost on the way and was almost an hour late, but that gave Meghan plenty of time to fart around with my camera taking photos of people, including herself. It was pretty cool how quickly she grasped the concept for a four-year-old... she didn't just point and shoot... she adjusted the camera to get the shots she wanted.

Grandpa finally arrived under the guise of the event being a celebration of my mom's anniversary (in truth it was), and truly was surprised to see the people from St. Louis who all made the six-and-a-half-hour trip just for this one evening to turn around and head back the following morning (my birthday).

My family celebrates a bunch of birthdays in December. One is my grandfather's, one is my sister Stephanie's, one is my uncle Mark's, another is my uncle Jim's, and the final one is my own. And I'm sure there may be more than that. But those were the ones present for us to celebrate. Meghan got a family celebration of her birthday from back in October as well. It was a fantastic event to celebrate my grandfather's seventieth birthday and the many years of his life.

After a few hours, I left my grandfather's party to attend a ChristmaHannaKwanzaa party at my friend Aleshia's place. I met several new and cool people there who were at least interesting. A few were less than advantageous to know, and others could be a huge help in several goal areas for me. Of course, Scott was in attendance and we had a blast dancing and stuff.

***

Sunday I went out on a date with Deanna and I had a decent time. I still think we could hit it off, but something seemed off Sunday evening. Nonetheless, good food, decent conversation, and a beautiful woman... I can't ask for much more. I ended up with the hug at the end which isn't a particularly good sign, but I won't let it get to me. We went out to Abuelo's where I had free meal deals for my birthday and from RedsFest (after paying to spin the wheel a couple of times). The food was okay, a bit heavy for my tastes but the drinks were very good and the appetizers were very tasty.

I also saw Eragon with Anthony and his parents earlier in the day and played a bit of a new game called "Rise of Legends" which is similar to "Rise of Nations" in concept but with a much different gameplay. It was a lot of fun. We also ate at this Vietnamese place in West Chester called "Chopsticks" which I've been looking forward to. I found it a little overpriced but worth the trial. I would not plan on going regularly though the decor and services were both impeccable.

***

On Monday I had a pretty packed day at work. I didn't leave until about quarter past seven and headed up to the CincyUpdate.com meeting at the Celestial in Mt. Adams. The meeting was just four of us and was kept short due to the presence of the Bengals vs. Colts game on ESPN that night.

Scott and I went over to Porkopolis to watch the game. Porkopolis has half-priced appetizers and sandwiches as well as $1.50 Bud Light pints on Monday nights for Monday Night Football. I ended up getting the Stuffed Mushrooms (which are very tasty) as well as a Tomato-Cheese-and-Bacon sandwich. Not to mention the four pints I drank during the game. We met a bunch of people during the game, though the most memorable for me were Maggie, Amy, and John (who had his own personal indoor four-wheeler). Although a group at the end of the night with a guy named Peter had a pretty good run at it. Maggie, who attends college in southern Florida was really attractive and seemed like fun. I sent her an email earlier today with some Christmas greetings. Peter's group was completely gone. And I mean WASTED BEYOND REPAIR! After the game was over I headed outside to find them near the bus stop and offered him and his two girls a ride home. They likely wouldn't afford a cab in cash and a bus would take forever and they'd have to walk the one girl a long way from the bus stop... not to mention she was unable to stand on her own for even a moment. So we packed into my car, chose some mutually agreeable music (which wasn't hard - oddly), and headed off to Peter's place. The one 'falling girl' almost left her purse in my car but I got it to them almost instantly. Peter started going on about Japan and how he'd lived there and blah blah blah. His girlfriend Norah was all like "Peter... what the hell are you talking about?" And she was the most sober of the three.

***

Tonight (Wednesday the 20th) was the Trivantis holiday party. As such it was a short day in the office and not too much was accomplished. Here's hoping for tomorrow. The party was okay. I only had three beers and actually survived the event... which I cannot claim of last year's party I pretty instantly got drunk (by mixing alcohol and beer - not knowing the issues with doing so) and took a cab home. I was pretty bad off. But didn't get a hangover. Pretty nice that. They gave the usual little holiday bonus, plus a nice shirt and an insulated mug with my name etched into it.

***

I can't locate one of my books. I'm pretty upset about it. I seem to be missing my copy of "The Snow Fox" by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer.


That's it for now. More later in the week.