HOWEVER…

They serve martinis and margaritas made with liquid nitrogen (that stuff Mr. Wizard used once to freeze a rose and then break it by smashing it onto a table). When you order one, they bring a bucket of their house mix and pour the nitrogen into it. It freezes immediately, and they scoop it out like ice cream. Yum!

Small warning: If you’re OCD like me, don’t sit at the end of the table close to the waitor. While I was amazed at the science and awesome factor of my drink, I had a hard time concentrating due to my fear of the nitrogen splashing on me. I was afraid my hand would freeze and in my rush to the hospital, I’d trip, fall, and break it into a million pieces.

TECH WRITERS CAN’T WORK WITHOUT HANDS! At least, not easily. Deep breaths…

OK, I’m good.

Don’t go to Elevation for the food, but definitely go for the view and drinks.

I’m participating in a contest called The Great Experiment. It was started and is hosted by The Girl Who.

Each month, a topic is posted and readers are asked to submit a blog post about the topic. Then all the readers vote on the topic they like best. It’s $10 to enter, and the winner takes home all the money.

I thought this was such a neat idea. So simple and fun. This month’s topic was open, so I entered my post on cooking pulled pork sandwiches. Check it out, and if you like it, be sure to vote for my entry.

To vote (ends Saturday night at 10:00pm Mountain Time):

Voting is only open for one day, and only one person can vote from each computer. She tracks IP addresses to keep it fair.

• Go to The Girl Who blog.
• Enter a comment saying that you are voting for my post.

Wish me luck!

Last Friday Lauren graduated from Marine boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina. We’re so proud of her. As her mom said, she’s an adult now (and yes, there were tears soon after). I asked Lauren how the final test (known as the Crucible) went, and she told me it was “fun.” According to Wikipedia:

…the Crucible is a rigorous 54-hour field training exercise demanding the application of everything a recruit has learned until that point in recruit training, and includes a total of 48 miles of marching . It simulates typical combat situations with strenuous testing, hardship, and the deprivation of food and sleep. A recruit is given three MREs and four to eight hours of sleep through the entire 54-hour event.

Yeah, that sounds like “fun.”

We got to the base around 6:00am so we could find a good seat, and the Marines were already up and practicing the ceremony for the 1,000th time. The weather was awful, but we didn’t mind too much. After all, if Lauren could deal with total hell for 12 weeks, we could deal with a little rain.

Unfortunately the weather didn’t let up, so the ceremony was moved inside. There’s not as much room inside, so the Marines didn’t march by the crowd as they would have outside. But they still looked great. From my vantage point, graduation went something like this:

• An officer yells or grunts something I don’t understand.
• All the Marines move together from attention to saluting to at ease.

I asked Lauren later if she could actually understand what they were saying or if she just knew what to do and when. She said at first, the officers speak normally to them and slowly. Then they speed it up and get louder until you’re used to it. So yeah, she knew what they were saying.

After graduation, we walked down to greet the toughest member of our family. Here she is with her parents and recruiting officer. The uniform she’s wearing is called her “Service Charlies.”

By the way, the little tag on her shirt is not a name tag. It’s a medal to let you know Lauren knows how to use a gun. She also explained to me a few combat tactics she learned, including her tan belt in mixed martial arts. I’m a little afraid (and totally proud!). Definitely getting my niece whatever she wants for Christmas!

There’s more pictures on our photo site, including some from family day where you can see more of the base.

And here are their 700 classmates who graduated with them. The speaker called students’ names for over an hour!

Graduation was Sunday afternoon, so we all went to dinner Saturday night at RB’s. It’s a restaurant right on a port, where people can dock their ships while they eat. We ate upstairs on the outdoor deck and afterwards hung out on the pier watching pelicans and dolphins play in the water.

Immediately after graduation, Lauren and Christian left with their staff sergeant for boot camp. They’re both joining the Marines and will be in boot camp at Paris Island until their September graduation. It was really hard to tell them goodbye, but everyone is so proud of them!

More pictures are on our photo site.

Picture courtesy of Tanya and her cell phone.

The Barely Balanced acrobats…

Doesn’t the crawfish with a chef’s hat just crack you up? Last weekend Roger and I hauled all of our auction items down to my parents’. Then Mom and I put together baskets for each item. We learned that working with cellophane is NOT FUN. Sure, we laughed plenty, but a lot of it was out of frustration over what we dubbed the cello-PAIN.

However, we managed to finish a few baskets. This one is full of fancy hair products donated by Rick and Leslie (thanks guys!). I almost kept the Green Tea shampoo for myself, because it smells so good.

Mom bought shrink wrap this week and reported that it was much easier to deal with. So the rest of the baskets won’t cause the drama we experienced late Saturday night.

If you’ll be in town May 2, check out the auction and food. It’s for a good cause, and the company will be great. If you won’t be in town, but you still want to help out, you can send donations directly to the church:

Wilmer UMC
P.O. Box 156
Wilmer, AL 36587

Be sure to write “Ecuador Mission” on the check. Or you can give donations to me and Roger, and we’ll get it to the right place. Thanks for everyone’s support!

We got to the courthouse early to grab seats and then explored the town a little.

The play is fun. It starts outside the courthouse with a small set of house fronts. Then it moves into the courthouse for the trial and final scenes.

My only criticism is that the play version is a little preachy (the book is more subtle about the issues of classism and racism), and they leave out most of the Boo Radley stuff. So anything dealing with Boo later seems really forced. But that being said, I still had a great time.

Back at home, Amelia has found a new favorite spot to chill out. Since Roger cleaned up the office, the kitty has decided she needs to be in that room all the time. She poked around in there before the great cleanup, but now she has room to frolic if she chooses. However, she chooses to be lazy. I can’t really blame her.

To balance her time in Roger’s office, Amelia also tries to infiltrate the guest bedroom. Normally this is not a problem, but I’ve had the room covered in scrapbook materials for two weeks while I worked on my wedding album. And it’s finally finished! I’m still keeping the room off limits to Amelia though – just because I can.

I’ve been printing and organizing photos for a while, and today I went through several boxes and bins of wedding mementos. I separated everything into piles based on the sections that will be in the album. It was fun reading through all the cards we received. Our friends and family wrote so many sweet notes of encouragement, and I couldn’t help but smiling as I read through them all.

But finally it was time to actually start putting the pages together. I managed to get the title page and engagement pages done before Roger and I headed off to our Valentine’s Day dinner.

I plan to work on the album tomorrow afternoon while Roger reads for his Disciple class. Maybe I’ll even finish it by the end of the day. Eh, let’s not talk crazy.

These signs will line the golf course during the tournament. The top half will include the designs you see here and the bottom half will have the sponsor’s name.  It’s nice to put my professional skills towards something meaningful (not that documenting the import process for a risk management information system isn’t totally worthwhile).

If you know anyone who would like to sponsor or play in the tournament, let me or Roger know. A list of all sponsors will be handed out at the event, and sponsors who donate at least $100 will have a sign. To play, it’s $200 per 4-person team (so $50 per person). The tournament is March 28 at Azalea City in Mobile, AL. All money raised goes directly to the Ecuador mission to cover travel and lodging costs, supplies, and materials.

Hunter and Michelle let us stay with them while we were in town, so we got to spend quality time with their son Aiden. He’s now 2 and he’s a lot of fun. Roger snapped this shot of him while we were all playing outside. Isn’t he cute?

Saturday night a group of us went to Chelsea’s for dinner. This was mine and Roger’s first time at the new Chelsea’s, and we were impressed. The old one was a great place to see bands, but eating dinner there usually proved a little difficult. The new place has a lot more room, and the food was as good as ever.

We had so much fun with everyone. It makes me miss Baton Rouge even more. I guess we’ll have to start going back more often! The rest of our pictures from the trip are posted to our photo site.

This weekend Roger and I are headed off on a Gulf Coast road trip adventure! We start our journey Thursday night where we’ll spend the night at my folks’ just in time to celebrate Mom’s birthday a few days late. Then we’re off Friday morning to Baton Rouge to watch our good buddy Caleb marry his lady. Sunday morning we’ll drive the 3 hours back to Wilmer for a meeting with the Ecuador mission team. (We’re going on a mission trip to Ecuador in June.) Afterwards, it’s back to home sweet home Marietta.

We only got to try one kind of Heineken, but it was included in the price of admission so no complaints here. We learned that Heineken is made from water, hops, barley, and Heineken “A” yeast. The room where they mix the mash smelled pretty bad (in my opinion), but the resulting beer is good. It’s actually better than the Heineken we get here at home. Not sure how that happens.

We learned about the Heineken family, who are well known for their humanitarian efforts. Heineken was one of the first companies to offer their employees a pension, and at one point when the economy was particularly bad, they offered early retirement in lieu of lay offs.

They also designed the “Wobo” bottle which could be recycled to build houses. The bottles were designed with flat sides and ends that fit together, so people could build walls out of them. Of course, the walls were made of green glass so I don’t know how well that works for a house. But then again, it could be perfect for a college frat house…

After the Heineken museum, we went to the Albert Cuyp Market. It’s basically a farmers market mixed with clothing stores. You could buy anything from fresh seafood, cheese, chocolate, or flowers to boots, purses, scarves, jeans, or formal evening dresses. The tourist websites describe it as a “general market.” No kidding. I considered it a lovely place since they sold flowers in the dead of winter.

Continuing our touristy actions, we went to the Rijksmuseum. This was our second time through, and it was just as great. It’s just a really neat museum, and I recommend checking it out if you ever have the chance. They have paintings, Delftware, silver, and all sorts of random historical items. It’s a great way to learn about The Netherlands’ history and see some pretty incredible (and old!) stuff.

The Rijksmuseum is located near Museumplein (a big square that’s home to Rijksmuseum and Van Gough Museum). At the edge of this square is the ultimate in tourist attractions and photo opps – the Iamsterdam sign. If you’re taking your picture with this sign, you are most certainly not from Amsterdam. So naturally we asked Adam to take a picture of us with the sign, and then we herded him to the sign for a picture of himself. I used my favorite Mom line of “you’ll be happy later that I begged you to do this.”

Adam had to put up with additional Roger and Rachel antics at Museumplein too. But after all, would you have handled this any differently? I’m looking at you, Kevin. I mean, the ice cream was just asking me to be silly. And so I obliged. Because I’m sweet. And I was too cold to think straight or consider my actions.

To balance out our time spent in a cultural institution, we hung out in the Red Light District. Here we experienced a few oddities – swans hanging out in a canal (yes, you read that right – SWANS, as in the huge white birds), the granny window section (what the?), a Chinese New Year parade complete with enough firecrackers I thought we were under gunfire, and a new understanding of the dangers of weed.

Wouldn’t the first two problems listed on this book ensure the third problem would not happen? That was at the Hemp Museum Gallery, which was actually really cool. Aside from the weed references, they also had images of how hemp was used in shipping and other areas of industry all over the world. It was fascinating to see all the ways hemp could be used. It’s more versatile than cotton!

The Chinese New Year parade was hosted by a huge Chinese restaurant in the area. They had dragons and loud drums, and they marched through the streets. When they ended at the restaurant, they gathered in a circle and played the drums for a long time. Then they eventually set off the firecrackers. This happened several times while we were there, but I never got used to how loud the firecrackers were. The sound reverberates off the buildings. It’s unsettling, but maybe I’ve just seen too many gangster movies.

In the Red Light District we found a bar and coffeeshop called Hunter’s. And since we know a particularly awesome Hunter from Baton Rouge, we figured the place had a good chance of being cool. We were right. Other than the bathroom being super tiny (but clean at least!), the bar was a cool place.

We saw several odd things while walking around the city, including a South Carolina flag hanging from a hotel and this nifty fry guy statue hanging out in a store front.

The fry guy is representing Amsterdam by illustrating the cone of fries they love to eat. The fries in Amsterdam are ridiculously good. They’re a must if you ever go. The only downfall is they eat fries with mayonnaise. Ick. I passed on the mayo myself.

Speaking of fries, we ate at the McDonalds at Schipol Airport while waiting for our flight. They don’t really have breakfast like we do, so at 8:00 am we were eating the following: Rachel – the worst croissant I’ve ever had and some of Roger’s fries; Roger – Quarterpounder (what happened to the metric system?); Adam – a “Big and Tasty” which was apparently a burger with gouda cheese. Hrm. They also served “McKrokets” which I thought was hysterical.

On the up side, Schipol is one of the most beautiful and efficient airports I’ve ever traveled through. It was decorated really nicely for the holidays. This picture is from the lounge we waited in, and it’s only a hint of how the rest of the airport looked.

After our last trip, Roger dreamed about Amsterdam nearly every night. And they were frustrating dreams where he was with a bunch of friends, but they don’t realize they’re in Amsterdam until the last day. So I asked him if he is still having dreams about Amsterdam, and he said he is but they have more closure. He now always knows he’s in Amsterdam so the dream is much more satisfying.

So does this make Amsterdam a dreamy place? Oh yeah, I went there. I made that corny joke. And now I’m leaving you with it. To ponder it. All day. Now, who wants to go to Amsterdam? I’ve heard it’s a cool place.

We got back from our trip Monday, and I haven’t had a free moment since then to sit down and write a blog post. And since our hotel charged $5/hr for internet, I decided not to blog while on the trip either. So here’s the first part of our trip in a nutshell (for all your squirrel fans out there).

First things first (and YES, I have to do this) – thank you Evan for text messaging me the Peach Bowl score. I seriously worried you got the score backwards until I could get home and look it up for myself at ESPN. Geaux tigers! But moving on . . .

We arrived in Amsterdam at 7:30 New Year’s morning. Here’s Adam and me at Schipol airport relieved to be off the plane and ready to start our adventure. During the short train ride to Centraal Station, we were excited to see snow on the ground! But that’s the last of it we saw for the entire trip. Ahh well.

When we stepped off the train we were greeted by partiers still walking around with beer, tons of red fireworks paper, and piles of trash everywhere. It was eerily similar to every New Orleans morning in the Quarter but fortunately without the urine-in-the-gutters smell. But by the end of the day, most of the trash was history and the city’s holiday decorations could take center stage.

This was my first time traveling somewhere besides my hometown during the holidays, and I definitely recommend it. It’s cool to see another city’s lights and decorations. These lights are at Leidseplein, above the Irish pub and restaurant.

There was also an ice skating rink surrounded by Sinterklaas statues (more on that later) and holiday vendors selling things like chocolate-covered waffles (good grief they’re good!), apple tarts, and more. It was like a fair but without the rides, farm animals, and gigantic squashes. A few more pictures of the decorations at Leidseplein:

Everywhere we looked we were greeted by Santa Claus Sinterklaas statues. I’m convinced some of the statues are just Santas the Dutch ordered and then sneakily painted green gloves on. Although I have to admit I’ve never seen these types of Santas here in the states, so my theory could be woefully wrong.

One place we missed last time we were in Amsterdam was Hard Rock Cafe. It’s near Leidseplein in a square where you can place chess on a large board painted on the ground, with pieces that stand about knee high. The square is also decorated with Christmas light chess pieces.

We ate there one night, and it’s kind of odd. You’d never know you were anywhere besides America from inside that place. Even the music they play is the same as all the other Hard Rocks. I had macaroni and cheese for goodness sake!

But it was good and a fun place. It’s right next to a canal, so the view is nice. I also noticed one of the waiters liked to sing to the music as he walked by. Nothing like hearing American rock with a Dutch accent. Very cute.

Did you hear that? It was Roger telling me to wrap it up already. If he ever buys a wrap-it-up light, there will be a war at our house. (If you don’t know what that means, ask me later.) Part 2 coming soon – Heineken brewery, Albert Cyup Market, Hemp Museum Gallery, and more!

Also, all of our pictures are on our photo site where you can download or print full-size images of our beautiful faces.

More pictures from our family Christmas.

Straight from Iraq to Heather, courtesy of Dan. If you want to send Dan cool stuff, let me know and I’ll send you his address.

The trees are apparently shy, because they haven’t sprouted yet.

More pictures of the plant progress . . .

Day 1: Pour water into the “Successful Soil” pellet. Then sow the seeds.

Done. I expect a tiny spruce tree and some snow flurries tomorrow afternoon.

See more pictures from graduation.

Now on to other things to keep me busy – like my New Years Resolution about finishing my wedding scrapbook. Yeah . . . little behind on that one.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Roger and I ate a huge lunch and dinner with his family. Chanell and crew came in from Charleston, LaNell and the kids came from Conyers, and we all hung out at Roger’s parents for the day. We even went bowling after lunch. I took some pictures, but they are dreadfully blurry. I’ll still post them to our photo site though (eventually).

Tonight we managed to get the Christmas tree decorated. We even have a few presents underneath…

Edit: Thanksgiving pictures are now posted.

Our Sunday school teacher Russ has season tickets to the Falcons game, but he couldn’t go last Sunday. So he gave us his tickets. It was my first time in the Georgia Dome and my first time to see an NFL game. I was not disappointed.

I learned that Falcons games have two advantages over Braves games. First, they play inside so it’s not crazy hot like it is at baseball games. Second, Falcons games seem to be a more adult crowd. Sure, there were kids there, but the entertainment was not all about the kids. They actually played hip hop music during the game. This does not happen at Braves games.

On the other hand, there were a lot more drunks at this game than I’ve ever seen at Turner Field. We were also greeted by some of our crazier brothers in Christ who informed everyone that you should “Love Jesus or burn in Hell.” I thought that showed Jesus’ love in a favorable light. I tried to ignore both of those groups.

The half-time show was marched by LeFlore High School from my hometown Mobile, AL. That was a cool surprise. They won Battle of the Bands in Alabama so they were invited to the Dome to march the show. They did a great job, and we could hear them even in that huge place. That’s saying a lot.

Overall, I rate the Falcons game a fun experience. The Dome gets really loud, so I can see why visiting teams wouldn’t want to play there. I did my part to add to the noise. The Falcons won, beating the Carolina Panthers 45-28.

During half time, once LeFlore was done, the Atlanta Falcon mascot brought his family out for entertainment. Roger captured the moment on video:

See more photos of the game.

Job wise, life wise, etc. I am the same ‘ole same ‘ole – still working for the man, still into politics, video games, blah blah blah.

A few of the current things I am doing include working on a new Memory Game application (which you can read about on smartypantscoding.com), I am playing through Deadspace on my Xbox 360, I am working with a few other guys on a politics site called splitnation.com, and I am micro-blogging daily on twitter.

So that is what I’m up to. Be sure to keep an eye on these other sites as well as this one. Until next time!

Welcome to our new family site. There’s not much to see yet, but we’re working on that. We’ll be sharing our adventures on this blog, and there’s links to our photos site, work-related pages, and our friends’ sites. Happy reading!