I hope everybody had an excellent non-denominational winter holiday this year. I know I did.

Aside the joy of hanging out with family, old and new, I got a couple bottles of tasty adult beverages, and a lot of gift cards that should keep me entertained for-cheap for quite a while. Even a surprise gift from the Smart Tan peeps that was both greatly appreciated and highly unnecessary. I still have another to go to before the end of the year. Glad there’s only one more too. Yesterday pooped me the heck out.

Did any of my three readers get anything notable this non-denominational winter holiday?

Over the weekend I went to Cedar Point for the last days of Halloweekends. It was pretty cold out, and the lines weren’t any shorter. It really wasn’t more fun than a normal weekend at Cedar Point. I did have a good time, though. The part that sticks out in my mind most is the parts where I came up with three awesome ideas for products.

1) Ketchup Bidet – Much like a regular bidet that removes the need to smear poop on your posterior with toilet paper, a ketchup bidet will remove the need to smear spilled ketchup all over the table with a napkin. Through the power of OxyClean, ketchup will be neatly and quickly washed away. Industrial models brought to you by SuperSoker.

2) Chicken Brat Pie – This is a lot like a chicken pot pie, but instead of a flaky crust, you get a meaty one. The bratwurst sausage will be molded to the bottom of a small pie tin. On top of that is the chicken filling. Then comes another layer of bratwurst meat. Pop it in the oven for 30 minutes and you have some delicious meaty goodness.

3) Corny Dog – Hotdog covered with chili covered with corn bread. Need I say more?

The last day was really slow. Fortunately it was also short. After four hours on the floor we started packing up. It only took 15 minutes to get all our crap out of the booth and on the palette to head back to Michigan. Afterward I met up with Bruce and we did more touring of Nashville – this time of the Vanderbilt University area. After that, we met up with the son of one of our really big customers who also happen to be good friends of Bruce and Tim outside work. I forget the name of the restaurant but they served really good food.

The flight home was alright. Finally got to start the newest Zelda game – the one I had wanted to start all weekend. Got back home to see the excellent job my parents did to spruce up my house a bit. It looks really good and I really appreciate the help they gave over the weekend. I picked up Orange Box and attempted to install Windows XP as a secondary OS – an experience that has reinforced my hatred for Windows. I managed to get the installer to recognize my system to install the upgrade version I had laying around, saving me $200 I would have spent buying a new version, and I’ll be able to play Portal to my heart’s content tomorrow.

I’m squealing with joy at the idea of sleeping in my own bed tonight.

Today was another successful day. Set up early and let the awesomeness of the site work its magic the whole day. We even left the conference floor 2 PM, after Bruce and Tim got here, to take a tour of the downtown area. It reminds me a lot of what Detroit should look like in twenty years. At least I hope it looks this good. We went to a BBQ place for lunch – it was delicious – and we hit up the less-than-stellar Oktoberfest that one of Tim’s friends told him about. Dinner was at a brewery, followed by a ‘party’ that the ST folks were really excited about. It was more of a club shindig than a party. Music too loud to hear anybody talk, lights too dark to see anybody or anything, except the ones that periodically shine in my eyes that I love so much. I stayed for about 5 minutes before heading back to my room. I can deal with the tanning scene, in which I clearly do not belong, but clubs are where I draw the line.

Got up early to set up the network. That went better than I’d hoped. During the show, I was only called once to unlock a door for which I had the only key. I was not bothered a single time regarding the site. I’d call the whole day a huge success. While I wasn’t at the ST booth, I wandered around looking at the tanning stuff and the girls. The tanning booths were funky lookin’ and the girls were… oh my god hot. The chicks from that one tanning show on E! (don’t really watch that channel, couldn’t tell you the name) were there and they’re quite the hotties in person. I got their autograph and the autograph of a chick who was signing posters for the sole reason that she was hot. As far as I could tell she was not famous in the general meaning of the word. I don’t mind.

Oh and here are some pictures. Today it’s a few photos of the hotel and some of the more interesting tanning booths.

THE FLIGHT

The flight was short – almost too short. I didn’t even get to finish the podcast I was listening to. The guy in front of me fell asleep and his head would roll forward then jerk back reflexively. I thought that was really funny for some reason. The cabby who took me to the hotel didn’t wear any shoes.

Speaking of the hotel, we’re staying at the Opryland on Smart Tan’s tab. I’m sure it wasn’t an inexpensive gratitude they showed us, and I really appreciate the opportunity to stay here. It’s friggin huge. I had to ask directions from one of the bellhops to my room. I’ll have some pictures when the trip is done. I’m off to help set up our area.

THE WALKTHROUGH

After arriving to my room, we all walked around the conference hall. But not before me getting lost again, pressing the down button on an elevator, and making some guys who wanted to get off on floor 6 get off on floor 5. It took all I had to not bust out laughing at them. On the way to our meeting place I got confused and managed to find my way onto the conference floor without a badge (which is required). The real walkthrough was uneventful. I can’t wait for gameday tomorrow. Apparently the Dallas cheerleading team might make an appearance.

That brings the total ‘lost’ count to 3, but I’m getting the hang of the place.

PRE-GAME PARTY

Drinks, drinks, drinks! I had a hell of a time hanging out with the ST folks. Jack Daniels’ Bar was a hoot and a half. The live band there kicked lots of ass.

Nothing really bothered me this week, at least not enough to rant about. I got a bunch of neat things for my birthday – a bonsai tree and a bunch of really cool pictures for my walls.

Saw Superbad, it’s super good. Saw War, it’s super bad. Went to Cedar Point, my face is super sunburned. That’s my week in a nutshell. I’m gonna stop now so this doesn’t sound like every other dumb blog. Too late, I guess.

I’ll have another Tuesdays with Flannel up some time this week for those who enjoy them.

Some fun stuff happened to me in the past two weeks.

My magical computer fixing powers shone more than once. For those who don’t know, I have this magical ability to make any computer magically start functioning the way it should by walking within 10 feet of it. It’s really bizarre, but it makes me look like I’m a god among techies.

I was burgled! Some hoodlum(s) “broke” into my car Tuesday night. I put broke in quotes because they didn’t really break in, but rather walked into my open garage and opened the unlocked door to my car and stole my laptop case (along with a few more expensive items in the case:). The good new is: insurance is covering it so it’ll only cost me the deductible. $500 penalty for being an idiot. GO ME!

Lastly, today is my birthday! Exactly 24 years, 7 hours, and 15 minutes ago I was born. Tonight’s festivities include Champion House for dinner (yum), A2 Comedy Club (haha), then we hit the bar (hiccup), followed by my house for some drunken Wii. Good times!

I got a new camera last week and took a bunch of pictures of the little kitties. You can see how much they’ve grown in the past couple months. Click the Kitties! link above for a link to the new gallery. Or you can click this.

Between old TV shows, old musicians, and old cereal, I’m finding myself encompassed by relics of the past. And I like it!

Transformers was great, even the two total minutes that didn’t include product placement. John Tuturro’s character had me laughing my ass off! Apparently they’re also making an Underdog movie, and apparently Underdog is voiced by Jason Lee, who is among my favorite actors. It’s live action, which is really weird, but I have high hopes. Jason Lee is also starring in a remade Alvin and the Chipmunks. WEEEE!

A month ago I went to a Bob Dylan concert. “He’s alive?!?” It seems he is, and he’s still got it. He played a great set, and finished it off with a very very awesome All Along the Watchtower. A very strange smell manifested itself in the air when he started playing Everybody Must Get Stoned. It was strange. Speaking of old musicians making awesome music, I really like Ozzy’s and Iggy’s new singles. Haven’t had a chance to pick the CDs up but they’re on my list.

On the subject of reminiscing, I was thinking of the old Sega vs Nintendo feud from back in the day. Our family had a Genesis, and I played the hell out of it. Sonic the Hedgehog was and is still one of my favorite game series of all time. Everything before Sonic 3D, that is. The new one for DS is pretty cool, though. It’s the closest they’ve come to the original feel of the series in a decade. I can’t even say what kind of mixed feelings Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games gives me.

And what does cereal have to do with all this? I had some Corny Snaps earlier in the week. They were kinda stale.