Jason the gimpy...

I said gimpy, not grumpy. Although we've have had some of that too with the pain he's been in over the past 3 weeks. We did have a doctor appointment this week and have an update to share. In addition to the mild arthritis in his hip, he also has a herniated disc. It's not bad enough to need surgery, so we can count on it to repair itself over time. His anti-inflammatory drugs are working slowly so the pain is lessening, but it will be a while before he is 100% again. Which means that he has to take it easy for a long while -- no heavy lifting so please don't even ask! If the pain gets worse again, we'll definitely have to do an MRI stat. But we're optimistic that he'll be fine. It'll just take a while. In the meantime, we'll be hobbling along. But we'll get there eventually. Thanks for all the well wishes!

Jenny the techie...

I said techie, not trekkie. Equally good (but only if you're talking about Next Gen) is my new laptop just purchased today! It's an HP, 3 gigs of memory, 320 gig hard drive, Intel Core 2 Duo processor, built-in TV tuner, Blu-Ray, Vista, a great video card, fantastic built-in speakers, and a 17" screen. Whew! I'm looking foward to LAN parties with the WoW gang as well as using it for scrapbooking. A portable picture library will be especially nice when I'm scrapping at the lake with my mom. 'Cache' and carry!

Jake-sitting...

We love our nephew. Jake is such a happy baby and really just a joy to hang out with; he's so fun! Jason and I are playing parents for a couple of days while Jess is out of town and Marc is busy with his honey-do list (hee hee). So we've gone shopping, bonded with our puppy, played a few games, and discovered some new ones. And, of course, had a photo shoot. The camera loves him almost as much as we do!

30-somethings...

Welcome to 30. Or so we keep telling Jessie and Mike (my sister and cousin). We got family and friends together this weekend to celebrate their birthdays. Besides fantastic birthday cake (you just can't beat Byerly's buttercream frosting), our new PS3 Rock Band game made for some great entertainment. Even my dad Bob made a valiant effort on the drums. Yes, I got pictures. We had so much fun that my nephew Jake was just beside himself after repeated interruptions as he tried to sleep upstairs. Apparently we were too loud for this little groupie. Don't worry; he'll get used to it . Keep on rockin'!

Pixel pride...

I am proud to announce that our Warcraft game characters have reached level 70. This is the highest level in the game (until they come out with the next expansion, but hey, let's celebrate the milestones). Gracyn (Jen), Bandit (Jason) and Gaewest (Dave) have worked long and hard to reach this point -- and had a lot of fun along the way. Now it's all about the endgame content -- good gear, tall cash and phat lewts. wh00t!

Great chocolate is also hard to find...

My Hearts Day gift from my husband this year was from Vosges Haut Chocolat. Another Chicago discovery, these gems are quite possibly the best chocolate truffles on the face of the planet. Worth every penny. These truffles are infused with ingredients from around the world...Indian curry, Hungarian paprika, Louisiana coffee, Italian cheese, Japanese wasabi, Mexican vanilla beans, and the list goes on. Today, my favorite version is infused with French violets. (That esteemed "favorite" title can - and does - change frequently). Absolute decadence. Everyone needs to do whatever they can to taste these. It's an experience for the palette and the soul.

Great steak is hard to find...

Valentine's Day dinner was spent at Wildfire this year. Premium steaks, chops and seafood. There was one of these restaurants in Chicago (Oak Brook actually) and we dined there as often as our wallets would let us. We haven't been to Wildfire since we moved to Minnesota, so we took our 4 years of pent up taste buds and headed out to Eden Prairie for a night of culinary excellence. The horseradish-encrusted filet mignon was superb, but the real stars of the night were the Key Lime Pie Martinis. I had forgotten how wonderful those are...seriously, they are sweet and tart and you have no idea that you are consuming alchohal at all. Heaven in a cup.

And the hounds have it...

We watched part of the Westminster Dog Show this week. Mostly because Stewart likes to watch the dogs running around, but also because I'm fascinated by the people that invest so much energy and money into this. I know, I know -- we all have our own little obsessions. It's interesting! Did you know that this show was first held in 1877 and is the 2nd oldest continuously held sporting event in the USA? (Only the Kentucky Derby is older by a mere 2 years). The show has been around for 132 years, but the Best in Show prize has only been given out since 1907. In that 101-year history, a terrier has won 44 times. This pleases Stewart cuz you gotta root for your own. This year, a beagle took Best in Show for the first time ever. Pretty cool. Yay for the common household pet.

Guitar hero comes to Frankfort...

We have finally hopped on the bandwagon of the latest craze. Jason decided on a PS3 to play Guitar Hero & Rock Band. I must say that Rock Band is exceeding my expectations considerably. There is a microphone controller for the singer of the band; clearly I thought that this would be my immediate niche. However, I have surprised myself as the drums have held the greatest attention for me thus far in my Rock Band career. We have formed a soon-to-be-famous band called The Kilt Pins and are currently searching for a worthy bass player. Feel free to apply.

Initial thoughts on blogging...

I'm not really a blogger. I basically was looking at something online and that inner explorer's voice called to me -- "hey, click this other link cuz it might be interesting" -- and lo-and-behold...I was off and running on another online tangent now called ReinkeMote's Blog. That and my good friend KW chatted me up last night about how many blog entries she needed to write. So the perverbial seed must have been planted (was that the plan all along I wonder?). But I'm not really a blogger. I can hear Dave, Alicia and Jason laughing now because that's what I said about live-action and MMORPG games. We'll see.