Pass the Shrimp Dip and Meatballs.

Today is my Best Man Doug's birthday. (He's the Best Man in my wedding--it's not like a fulltime job position he holds. Although that'd be kinda cool. And as I think about it more, it is kinda like a lifelong post. My friend Gene's dad would always refer to his friend Stanley as his Best Man--and he was married like 50 years prior. Like Stanley, I hope Doug will also continue to just come by my house all the time as he's driving around town wearing earmuffs and mismatched socks. As my only model of a lifelong Best Man, I just figger that's what they do.)

Anyway, it would be hard for Doug to stop by when driving around town, because he lives in Ohio. But last night, our big friend group gathered for the first time in awhile for dinner and games. We called Doug and told him we were having a By-Phone-Suprise-Party for him. I don't think he suspected it.

The gathering was fun. We now have babies and toddlers in the group. It's fun to have the usual Pictionary games, jokes and food--with spitting up and lots of questions like, "What kind of noise does a cow make?" And that's just me; the babies also bring a whole new dimension to social outings. It was kinda funny to be playing pictionary and have to transfer babies around depending on who has to draw each turn.

Three more highlights:

1) My Intended and I arrived to find great interest in the food we brought. A few people were very excited to see what my "Shrimp Dip" was that was listed on the e-mailed food list. I really enjoyed everyone standing in the kitchen to watch the very detailed and careful preperation of my Shrip dip: 1) Slap a slab of Cream Cheese on Plate, 2) Dump Cocktail Sauce Over it, and 3) Throw on Shrimp. (Yes, I am throwing all capitilization rules out the window today because I find it funny to Randomly capitalize things.)

2) My first Birthday Present of 2007. Charissa got me a shirt that features a Bull with various Cuts of Beef listed and the slogan, "Meat is Neat." Too true. Too true. What no one knows is that my bag of shrimp leaked on the way of home. Now, my "Meat is Neat" shirt smells like shrimp. Surf and Turf, baby.

3) Charissa debuted her new animated Family Force 5 video. It is as excellent as advertised. You can see it here. Some advice: let it play through once without sound and then go back and watch it the second time it plays through. The first time it runs through is very slow and choppy. I think you will be able to guess my favorite part. Domo Arigato, Charissa.

DREAM LOG
(Date: 1/26/07)
My youth group's leader Jen is my teacher in some fractions class. She keeps quizing us without first teaching us. So I show up, and just getting quizzed--with no instruction on how to do fractions. Later, I am in a big kitchen with several people and we are all being tested on whether we can use a blender. Some guy places a blender in fornt of us and we have to see who can properly use it first.