3 Quarters gone

One left to go. Where does the time go. It seems like just yesterday that the summer and parade season was arriving and now it is gone. Well summer is parade season ends this coming Saturday with our final parade.

Well I thought today was going to be just like the last 4 month end days, very quiet, but boy was I wrong. I wish I could say I was busy with things for the 5 sales reps I have accounts with. The majority of the work came from the 4 additional sales reps I get to work with for the next 2 weeks while my coworker/friend is on vacation. It was so busy that the first paragraph of this post was written and saved at 12:35.

There hasn’t been too much happening around these parts, dinner with my Dad last weekend, work, more work, house work, yard work. You know the usual domestic stuff that keeps us all busy.

Last Monday was the annual nomination of officers for the Drum Corps. I am currently nominated for Drum Major and Asst Drum Major, I will see what happens come the end of October whether the group decides to elect me for either position.

Speaking of the Drum Corps this past weekend we went to The Big E, or The Eastern States Exposition, in Springfield, MA. This is the 2nd year in a row the Drum Corps has marched in the parade on the last Saturday of the 3 week fair. It was a full day of walking and eating and people watching. We had a wonderful day, the weather was beautiful, and we got to visit with about 160,870 of our closest friends.Seriously though we did have a good old fashioned tweet up. It’s not often you wind up in the same town as people you tweet with live, so when I mentioned we were going to the Big E, Eric (@darkraynbow) and Max (@JMaxR) tweeted back that they might join us. Now Max has never been to The Big E in all the time he has lived in MA.

Aside from just walking around and then the parade at 5pm we ate and shopped, it seems though all we bought was food. Deep Fried Pickles, Sausage covered in Pulled Pork and Bacon, Chocolate Covered Bacon, Maple Cotton Candy, Cabot Cheese (XX Sharp and Horseradish Cheddar),Beer, and Martinis. Oh and I can’t forget the Wicked Whoopie Pies I had to get, even though one didn’t last the bus ride home and the other we ate Sunday night. Max really got into the experience and had a Smoked Turkey Leg, guess he thought he was at a Renaissance Fair. We had a great time hanging out with both of them and hope to see them again sometime, especially since we live pretty close in internet standards.

So on a sadder note, not only was today Month End at work but it was all the last day for one of my colleagues who has retired. She worked in our database services dept and has sat on the other side of my cube wall for the last 3 years. Not only have I learned so much from her but she told me today she has learned alot from me and is impressed with my product knowledge. It just won’t be the same but she has earned this time to spend with her family and enjoy life.

Friday night, normally known as Date Night, the Hubby and I have made a plan to hit up a local restaurant The Redding Roadhouse to partake in their Oktoberfest menu. This also happens to be the restaurant that hosts our Monthly Gay Social Group the first Monday of the Month. Since they give to us, as good homos it’s only fair we give back. It’s a win for all because they get repeat customers and we get delicious delicious German food.

Here is just a sampling of what they have to offer:

Appetizer

Bit of the Wurst: sausage sampler of smoked bratwurst, weisswurst and bauernwurst steamed in beer with sauerkraut

Kartoffelpuffer: potato pancakes with applesauce & sour cream

Charcuterie Plate: zurgenwurst, teewurst, pepper-coated cervelat & wuerzburger, cornichons, purple mustard, grilled bread

Burgoo: german immigrant stew

Entrée

Wiener Schnitzel: breaded veal cutlet with lemon butter and fresh parsley

Schnitzel a la Holstein: weiner schnitzel with capers, anchovies, fried egg

Sauerbraten: bavarian style pot roast, sweet & sour gravy thickened with gingersnaps

Best of the Wurst: smoked bratwurst, weisswurst and brauernwurst steamed in beer & sauerkraut

Kasseler Rippchen: smoked center-cut pork chop baked in sauerkraut with apples & grapes

Dessert: Apple Strudel a la Mode, Black Forest Layer Cake

The hubby and I and some friends of ours (one of whom is German) went last year and vowed we would go back this year if they had the menu again. Now the only problem is to figure out what to eat.

On a recap note, the hubby got all the pieces he ordered for my laptop so I can now get a few cruise update posts, with pictures, and some videos posted now that I have the access to them. Look for those later on this week.

Happy 4th Quarter!

 

TMI Thursday – Sock it to Me

SOCK IT TO ME!
1. What’s your shoe size? 12
2. Do your socks and shoes stink? No, well maybe after marching a parade on a really hot day.
3. Around the house do you wear socks, slippers or go barefoot? Usually slippers but no socks, my feet get hot quickly.
4. What length and color are your athletic socks? Mid Calf White, Summer they are ankle socks
5. Do you wear normal dress socks or do you have some fun ones? Fun ones always rule over boring. Stripes and Polka dots.
6. Do you sleep with socks on or off? Off and sometimes with my feet hanging out from under the blankets.
7. During the summer do you go sockless? Yes, Socks are never worn with Sandals EVER, and barefoot around the house and yard.
8. Are socks on a man sexy? They are not a turn on but I do appreciate funky patterned and colored socks on man.
9. Have you ever used garters with socks? No.
0. Have you ever darned a sock? No, but I have said Darn you socks!

BONUS

Sex – socks on or socks off? Well now that depends, if they are on I may leave them on, if they are off they will be off. I don’t put them on just for sex.

Time keeps on slipping

I wish I had more to update you with but since we have been back from our trip there hasn’t been anything exciting to report.

Drum Corps rehearsal season has started again so the Hubby becomes a widow on wednesday nights again. We are down to our last 3 parades of the year over the next 3 weeks.

I was ready to work on more vacation posts but now I have to wait until another piece of fancy technology comes via the post so the hubby can get the pictures from his iPhoto library into mine.

We played Guncles on Friday night taking the niece for the evening. We went to dinner and had Froyo and her mom picked her up Saturday morning. It was a fun night for everyone, including the waiter and waitress at the restaurant.

Last weekend after my parade the Hubby and I met our friends Steven and Paul, and Mike and Geoff for dinner and then we retired to Steven and Paul’s for some Cards Against Humanity. Geoff won.

This past Saturday was Gayme Night and of course we played CAH again. It really is one of the most popular games, and it really shows peoples inner workings.

Tonight we ended up at my parents house for an impromptu family gathering. My Dad’s Aunt passed away yesterday, and my Grandma has been up here visiting because of that. It was nice to just spend some time with everyone.

Autumn seems to have arrived  little early, we still went for our lunch time walk but as the day wore on the temperature dropped.

Fall TV Season is starting, which is good since Burn Notice is done, Game of Thrones and True Blood are off until next year. Downton Abbey is still 3 months away, and we have already watched all of season 1 of The White Queen.

I think I got all that was swimming around in there…..

Cruise Recap Part 1

And so we return, back to the real world, no more Diamond lounge, no one to cook us Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. No more nightly Friends of Dorothy gatherings in the champagne bar, which I will truly miss. Indra and Adi and Mariya will also be missed along with Julian who was always there at dinner to refill my wine glass.

The trip was relaxing and busy, hot and sunny, occasionally rainy, but most of all Fun. There were the Gays and the Straights, the young and old and everything in between. Since we were without any connections to the outside world, I will attempt to recap as best I can now and hope I don’t miss anything. Not that there is really all that much to report on, like I said, there was a lot of relaxing.

The easiest recap I can do is our nightly dinner in the dining room. We were at a table for 13, with most nights at least 2 people missing over the entire 7 nights. We had North Carolina, New Jersey, Texas, Puerto Rico, Connecticut, and Calgary all covered between us. NC was a nice older couple, avid cruisers like us as we also saw them in the Diamond Lounge every night. Puerto Rico only joined us 2 times during the cruise as they felt a little out of touch since the Wife spoke practically no English so they really had trouble following conversation.  New Jersey was a middle-aged couple and were an absolute delight to chat with and occasionally we saw them around the ship. Texas was a cute couple with a 9 month old whom they left home for the first time. They are your typical late 20’s former teacher/lawyer family who like to drink, socialize, and sky dive. Calgary was Mom and Daughter and the daughters’ boyfriend. The sweetest family ever! We truly enjoyed dining with them every night.

Since we were Diamond Members with Royal Caribbean we had access to a lounge, The Vortex on deck 13, for free nightly drinks, the Hubby had Red Wine all week and I drank Champagne. The 2 Bartenders (Indra and Adi mentioned earlier) both from Indonesia, kept our glasses full and were both really funny guys. Surprisingly the Diamond Lounge never had more than 12-15 people in attendance every night.  The lounge was available to us from 5-8 but since we always left at 6:30, full glass in hand, to meet up with the Gays.

The gaggle of Gays, or The Friends Of Dorothy as the meeting is usually called for those in the know, convened nightly at the Champagne Bar. This is the first of our 15 cruises that other Gays actually showed up to the FOD meeting on the first night and we all kept coming back. Matt and John from Atlanta, Don and Ed from New York and Florida, and Tracer and Tony from Orlando rounded out the nightly gathering. We pretty much took over this small part of the Champagne Bar and enjoyed drinks and fabulous company until we all had to head to dinner at 8:45. This was the best group of Gays we have ever met on a cruise and would totally hang out with them any day of the week. Actually Ed and Don when in NY are not that from us so we hope to get together with them sometime.

Well that about wraps up the generic cruise stuff. I will leave this post for now and recap the ports in another post. This was written in the San Juan airport while we await our flight home. Once we get the pictures off the phones and the camera I will work on some additional posts. I have some video from our Ziplining adventure in St Kitts and some good sunset pictures.