So my parents are remodeling their front living room as we speak.  Part of the renovation consists of a home theater with surround sound and a 60″ LCD Projection TV.  I think the title speaks for itself….

Last Saturday night I did something I haven’t done in a freakin’ long time.  My brother finally talked me into going out and playing on 4 wheelers out on the lake during my trip back home for the weekend.  We started the evening out great.  The fruitcake I call a brother flipped the wheeler up on it’s ass, dropping me on the ice first, followed by his big ass on top of me.  His words to me?  “Boy that was a soft landing”.  DAMN YOU!  Well, at least one of us had a soft landing. 

All in all, it was a great time.  It was like the 5th time I’ve learned to drive a manual, but I did pretty good.  The snow and ice is a tad bumpier than I remember, but that’s ok.  It massaged by sore ass from that glorious fall.

Believe it or not, that is NOT a random title (doh!).  Noooo, no this is the official name of my brother’s iPod Touch.  Ain’t it freakin’ sweet?

Well, it’s a decent title for this post.  So this past weekend my bro came down to visit, but mainly to accomplish some drinkage and a lot of Guitar Hero and Rock Band.  Unfortunately most of Friday night was spent calibrating the instruments for Rock Band (if you own the game, you probably know what I mean: watch the dot fly by, hear the tick and try and line ‘em up.  What fun!).  But once we got going we were rockin’ out!

This continued into Saturday evening too when Mr. (and soon-to-be Mrs.) Chippie Man came by to jam it like there was no tomorrow.

Yeah, the weekend was pretty good, well except for those icky excuses we call the AFC and NFC Championship games!  I was rooting for the teams that both lost!  What a horrible way to end my 2 days of relaxation!  @#!@$#!

Regardless, I will be rooting for the Giants come February 3rd.  Who’s with me? 

Or MAYBE, just maybe, my cat is on some really good cat nip and isn’t telling daddy. Who knows, with kids these days and their drugs and their hallucinations, right?

Anywho, Lexi, Queen of the House and Princess of Keeping Herself Occupied, as recently picked up playing shadow games. Confused? She chases shadows. Whenever the right lights are on, they cast our shadows onto the floor and furniture. So when we move, they move, and she moves… A LOT. When there are too many, I think blood vessels burst in Lexi’s head, causing her to go FADD (Feline A.D.D.). She’s all over the place. Hell I’ve even been tempted to charge admission at the door so everyone can witness in the humor that is Lexi’s playtime. Unfortunately, it either doesn’t last long enough and she gets bored quickly or she gets scared (as usual) and runs away from them.

This has been going on for awhile now, but today was a new one. She found she could play with herself (pervert) by chasing the shadow thrown by her own tail. This happened about 20 minutes ago, and I felt compelled and empowered to share this with you.

So now that I have, is your day better? Is your world a cleaner place to live? Huh? Huh?! Good. I can go to bed tonight happy.

We went to go see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Saturday night and as usual, they friggin’ rocked the house (and my socks off)! If you have never seen them live, I strongly suggest you do so at least once before you kick the bucket. It’s pretty powerful and in the past few years has become a part of my yearly Christmas traditions and rituals.

This was my third year, my mom’s second year, and my dad, brother, and girlfriend’s first time seeing them.  All three of them were in awe.  The light show, the pyrotechnics, the energy, and humor, the music, it’s all da shizzle!  (I did NOT just say that)

As great as the show was, it unfortunately and officially marks the end of my Christmas season (*pauses for a moment to pout*).  So the last couple of days have been cleaning house and taking decorations down.  All we have left are the outdoor lights and the trees.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas season and a happy new year!  May good things come and bad things be corrected in 2008!

Seasons Greetings all you happy people!

Well, today is the day that we have chosen (or have to) travel for the Christmas celebrations up yonder. We will be mounting the silver sleigh (Chevy Equinox) with all wheel drive later this afternoon to make our first stop at the Milwaukee airport to deliver toys to little girls and boys (and to pick up my aunt flying in from Vegas)! After that, we’ll soar over the land back home to pick up Lexi and her things (meowing cat, meowing cat, meowing all the way), and then be on our way to our final rooftop of the evening, the North Pole (Central Wisconsin.. home sweet home?). Anyway, until then, I get to pack and clean house today! Woo!

Thursday night we had our company Christmas party. It was kind of short, but a good time. A little food, a little air hockey, and a little Halo 3 on a huge TV is always a good way to celebrate the spirit of the season! I don’t know about you, but sometimes I think instead of Santa and his eight tiny reindeer, it should have been the Halo soldier and his eight tiny alien creatures. Doesn’t that just really warm your heart?

As a final thought, today marks the first day of my rest-of-2007 vacation! I am officially off of work now until January 2nd. Holy crap do I love this time of year!

Tuesday night re-cap!  I’m full of crap! :)  Turns out the guitar battle with Tom Morello wasn’t so bad after all.  Then again, it was still in the Easy level. :P  I even accomplished the encore song that I got to play along with Tom on.  (so sad, this game may actually be addicting)

Anywho, it was overall a pretty sweet day.  It started when my boss called me at 7:30am and informed me that we had the option to stay home today due to the ice and snow storm that was about to rock our world.  So yes, I got to stay home today, but I still had to work some.  Oh well, it wasn’t all bad, and I got a bunch of other stuff done today too.  Yeah I know I rock! (Quick!  Someone pop my ego balloon!)

Also, if you’ve been following along with my holiday posts, I updated my .Mac web gallery today with more recent photos of our finished decorations.  You can check them out in the left column (Holidays > Christmas 2007 Gallery) or use the link in the other post titled “Christmas Pics”.

Don’t forget, only 14 days left until Christmas!  Time is running out to buy me something!  (even if it is just a fashionable lump of coal that has my name written on it in multi-colored glitter)

Well, at least up until this point. You see, we just got a Wii yesterday and Guitar Hero III last week. We started our first career play tonight and now we’re at a halt. The next time we start that baby up, we will experience our first face to face with Mr. Tom Morello, and from what I can tell from friends’ past misfortunes with him, that might be an interesting challenge!

Why the hell do we have to do this?!? Bite me Morello! BAH-HUMBUG you brainless, dickless, hopeless, piece of monkey s$#! you are! Hallelujah! Holy crap! Where’s the Tylenol? (Thank you Chevy Chase for your deep words. You truly are inspiration to us all)