Happy Halloween!

Chris and I are passing out candy to the two or three kids in our neighborhood tonight. What are your plans? Did you dress up?

Also, update to an old post: if you want to see the results of that Halloween video shoot, I stumbled across the video, as well as the "back-stage" documentary here. It shows the costumes much closer up than my pictures, hah.

Is Thursday really not going to be the new Friday?

I'm sure you all remember TGIF on Friday nights year ago. Well now with the Office, 30 Rock, and (I thought!) LOST back to back, I had hoped to have a new 2-hour block of good shows to watch, this time on Thursdays instead! But, I recently heard they were moving Lost to Wednesday nights. Has anyone heard if this is true? For all you fans, I just saw a preview for the next season of Lost (check it out here) and am so excited!!

On an unrelated note, I am thrilled about thankful Thursdays! (wow...way to many th-words in a row.) I appreciate the participation! I love knowing what great things are going on in your lives and how to better praise God for all the things you're thankful for. Keep up the good work next week :)

Thankful Thursdays

Okay, so I'm going to start a series on my blog. Every Thursday (hopefully!). It's easy. All you do is think of one thing (or several!) that you are thankful for this week and leave it in the comment section below. I decided to do it on Thursdays mostly because not only is it the day of the week that sounds the most like the word thankful, but also because I know if anyone else out there is like me, by Thursday you are tired! It's often been a loong week, you're looking forward to the weekend, and it's a good time to reflect on the positive things of the last few days. Now this doesn't have to be serious (although it can be!). It can be something totally simple, superficial, or really anything at all! Plus, it's an easy way for me to find out what's going on in your lives :) So here goes...

This week I am thankful for a second car. (I know that's a really lame first one, but it's what's on my mind right now!)

Now, what are you thankful for?

Power outage

We had a power outage last night. It only lasted about 40 minutes, but long enough to have to light some candles and settle in! We had just sat down to watch the World Series of Poker, so we decided to play some hold'em. We also don't have poker chips so we used change instead.

I'm not that great at poker, because eventually if the game goes on too long or I keep getting dealt crappy cards I start betting and lose all my chips. I also am a terrible bluffer. BUT despite all that, I was winning! Chris was dealing and I had a suited 3 and 7, and then they both got paired up on the flop so I completely thought I had him beat. There was no way he had anything better than me. Then, he went all in! I was so excited! Since he was all in, we flipped over our cards to play the rest up the game openly. Well guess what. Chris flipped over a suited 3 and 7, too. I mean come on!! How can that happen!! It's so unlikely! I was so frustrated because we had to end up splitting the pot. Eventually we put the game on hold because it got too late, but for the record, he's coming back. We are dead tied right now.

Twin cars

Normally I don't drive Chris's car. Today I drove it, and when I got out of work, there were two of it in the parking lot! I have never seen this other car here before, either. I got a little confused as to which was the right one, but as soon as I saw the W&M Basketball sticker and Redskins helmet, I knew I had the right one.

Tricycle/scooter

I'm not sure what this is.. but I would love to try it someday!

Hardships between Ben and me

**Disclaimer** I wrote this post last night and am posting it this morning.

For a brief few minutes today, I honestly thought it was the end of Ben's life (my car for those of you who aren't aware). I tried to turn it on and the engine was just clicking. Nothing was happening. I knew it wasn't the battery because I could still get power for the radio and lights, but I know nothing else about cars so that's where I was stuck. I was really really sad because I've become so attached to Ben. We ended up trying to jump it using Chris's car and it worked! I have no idea why, but Ben lives to see another day! And that's all that really matters.

**Update** This morning: I walked outside to go to work and Ben wouldn't start. Ben lived to see yesterday, sure, but what about today?? The engine is still just clicking. No life at all, but, the battery is fine! Anyway, does anyone have any ideas? I don't think anyone that reads this is a car expert, but if you are, any advice would be helpful. I'm driving Chris's car in the meantime. I hope there is an easy solution.

Marine Corps Marathon

When we got back home from the burg this morning, we decided to take a walk down towards the Key Bridge to see the marathoners from the Marine Corps Marathon taking place today. It was so crowded! They had something called the "finish festival" going on where they were giving away free stuff and had live bands playing. We walked up to the Iwo Jima memorial where the finish line was to try to see some people cross, but it got so crowded (and too close to Redskins kickoff) that we turned around and went back home. Near the memorial though, they had a massage tent for the runners. The line was sooo long!

Homecoming

These are the reasons I love W&M. And I am lucky to be sitting right next to them all right now as I write this :)

Christmas in October

Since when does Christmas season start before Thanksgiving? Or even a month earlier?? (This may not be a great picture, but if you can't tell, there are green and red lights on the trees.)

Reasons I'm Annoyed at Verizon's Fios

1. They held a townhall meeting a few weeks ago to tell us that Verizon was coming to install Fios Thursday in our neighborhood. We did not attend. They posted a notice in the hallway then removed the memo on Monday (so I thought it was cancelled).

2. I ran into a neighbor in the hallway on my way home from work Tuesday who "reminded" me (though I had never been told!) that we were supposed to turn in a key to the office so Verizon could get into our apartment. Oh yeah, and we were supposed to clean out the front hall closet. Now if you've never seen our front hall closet, it's HUGE and PACKED. I mean, there's a dishwasher in there for goodness sakes! And, if I had not run into her, was no one going to tell us? I mean, we can't be expected to go to townhall meetings when they're at hours which we cannot attend.

3. We did this (turned in the key even though we didn't have an extra and are now down one and cleaned out the closet by emptying it into the middle of the living room).

Now for the kicker..
4. We can't get our key back because the office is only open from 8:30am to 5pm (hours which we are at work) and...

5. They didn't even install Fios in that closet!!!! I came home and all my clothes were in disarray, my shoes were moved out all over the floor, and sweaters were just tossed on the bed. And one of the bars in my closet was removed and laid on the floor. They installed the thing in the bedroom!

and finally...
6. THE WATER WAS LEFT RUNNING IN THE BATHROOM!! Umm. How do you forget to turn off the bathroom sink?

So yeah, I'm annoyed at Fios, and we don't even subscribe to it!

A good day at work

So for work today, instead of going to the office, our project team had a team outing. Most teams will go out for a lunch or a happy hour or something. We go a little bigger. We went golfing. All day. While my co-workers were at their desks and computers, I was hitting the links. It was sweet. There were four groups, and we played best ball so it went a little bit faster and it was a great time. My team ended up winning by shooting a 3-over par 74. We even got trophies for winning. I also made my first birdie in my life which was really exciting for me. It was a 127-yard par 3, and I hit a 9-iron off the tee that landed about 3 feet from the cup. You can see how close it was in the picture with my teammate grabbing the flag. So like I said, a good day at work today.

My near hole-in-one:

The winning team with trophies:

Relient K

Last night we went to go see Relient K at the 9:30 club. It was my fifth or sixth time seeing them and I think at least three for Katie. Not gonna lie, I love them. Since the tour is going on during the fall and Halloween is soon, the name of the tour is the Uncle Festour. Like Uncle Fester from the Addams Family. Man, those guys love a good pun and so do I. They played some older songs which they normally don't do as much which was sweet. I had never seen them play Mood Rings or Deathbed live so those were highlights for me. We took a little bit of video but we were having some technical difficulties so sorry Jennie you won't get to hear any of the rock. Maybe next time!

Geocaching

As per my sister, we decided to go geocaching, too! One of Chris's old roommates got really into it for a time, and then we kind of forgot it existed. We checked the site and went out in search. It was really dark out already and we only had one flashlight between the two of us, so it took quite awhile. We had basically given up and were about to head home without finding the cache, but flashed the light over one more spot and found it! It was pure luck. Needless to say we only found one and then went home.

Camping

Last night we went camping in Prince William forest. We were lucky and had beautiful weather, but it was freezing! We had a cabin that consisted of 6 cots, a lightbulb on the ceiling and some sort of make-shift closet on either side of the door. We had a picnic lunch and visited the ranger station once we got there.


Then we set off on our hike. We found an old bridge to play on for a bit.




Then we went to our cabin, played some cards, started up a fire and had dinner. We cooked hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and s'mores.

My camera battery died after that, so afterwards, we all layered-up to sleep, woke up and started the fire again, cooked breakfast and said goodbye to the forest.

Under $3??

That's right. Under $3. I'm amazed. Speaking of cheap gas, did anyone read this story?

A staggering work of 12-year old genius

So I know you guys have been thinking to yourself, 'Chris is so cool, I wonder if he was always this cool?' Well now you can read for yourself. My mom was going through some old boxes and came across my "I" Essay from October 14th, 1997. You're welcome.

My name is Christopher Matthew Stratton. I am 12 years old. I was born on September 29th 1985 in Bilthoven, Holland at 7:14 am. I am the second of five children. I have an older brother who is 13, and 3 younger sisters who are 9, and the twins are 2. In my life, I have lived in 4 different countries. I was born in Holland, and I lived there for 2 1/2 years while my dad flew F-15's at Soesterberg air force base. After Holland, I moved to Burke, Virginia, where I lived for 2 years. Then, my family and I moved to Vienna, Austria, where we lived for 18 months. After Vienna, I moved back to the same house in Virginia, where I lived for 6 years. While we lived there, my twin sisters were born. After Virginia, we moved to Bonn, Germany where I currently am writing this essay.

My friends call me a sports freak because I live for sports. My favorite sport is basketball, but I also play soccer, football, baseball, and roller hockey. My favorite athletes are, Michael Jordan, Juwan Howard, Gus Frerotte, and Cal Ripken Jr. My favorite sports teams are, the Washington Redskins, Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals, D.C. United, and the Baltimore Orioles. My favorite food is my mom's pizza, and my favorite color is jungle green. I enjoy playing sports, going to movies, reading sports thing or comics, and going to restaurants.

I believe overall that I am a nice person to be around. I'm not perfect, but I'm not terrible. I just try to do the best I can in anything I do. I am a Christian, and I try to display that every day. I try to be kind to everybody, even though sometimes I'm in a bad mood and it's hard to. I try to be friends with everybody. I admit that sometimes I brag even though I try not to. I love my family very much. I believe in being honest in everything, friendship, democracy, family, and most of all I trust God in everything I do.

That was pretty long, so if you didn't make it through the whole thing, my favorite parts are bolded. Gus Frerotte is funny because he's the current quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. I liked sports, reading sports things, and eating at restaurants - yeah, good to see that I've grown out of that stage. And I was a level-headed kid, noting that I'm not perfect, but also not terrible. And I believed in democracy.

Stomach Burn

I know what you all are thinking. What is a stomach burn and how the heck can that happen? Well, you have to be pretty careless to burn your stomach, but I did it! I was making pizza one random Friday night, and I pulled the pizza out of the oven and set it on the stove for awhile. Then I went to cut it with the pizza cutter and I was holding the pan with a potholder in my other hand. Well, the pan was moving around a little bit, so I slid the pan towards me and braced it in between my stomach and my potholder-covered hand so I could cut with the other hand. I realized within half a second that the pan was still around 400 degrees F, but it was too late…I burned a stripe across my stomach. (By the way, this was weeks ago and I’ve recovered fully since then.)

Dinners

We like to try new recipes, but since we both work and are starving by the time we get home, we need really simple/easy ones to make. Tonight we made homemade mac' and cheese. It was delicious.
I know all of you who read this eat dinner, too. And, a lot of you work relatively the same hours! So let's hear it. What do you make for dinner that you can share with us? We'd love to try it!

Halloween Video Shoot

This morning at work, we happened to look out the window and notice all of these scantily clad women in halloween costumes hanging out near the gazebo. Well, we took a walk around the area they were filming and talked to one of the camera guys. Turns out some company was shooting a video for new "adult" halloween costumes! I googled the scene and found a listing on Craig's List for women to be subjects of their video today in Great Falls. They women were to submit pictures and whoever was picked got paid $100 and got to keep the costume! This continued basically all day long with costumes from french maids to little red riding hood, to witches, etc. Just getting into that Halloween spirit!

You don't see that everyday...

On the way home from work, I saw a broken down bus.Now, I couldn't get a good picture, because as you can see, it was out the right side of my car at the light. But what I was trying to get a picture of was this normal/average sized tow truck trying to hook the front of the bus up to it, and it wasn't going anywhere. It was around 5.30 in the afternoon and the tow truck guy and bus driver were just standing there talking somewhat dejected, so I'm guessing they had been at it for awhile and ended up giving up.

World sweater #2

Okay, so I'm shocked. I thought that world sweater from last weekend was one of a kind, but no! This week walking into the grocery store, the woman right behind us was wearing a sweater with the world on it, too! Hers was a pullover (last week's was button up).
Sorry the picture is a bit blurry. I had to turn the flash off so I could take the picture without her noticing.

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Happy Birthday!


Blew out all the candles in one breath!


Standard group picture


We enjoyed spending the day with you, hope you had a good one!

For Grammy! (Apartment Pictures)

By request, and for anyone who hasn't been able to come see the apartment themselves, I am posting pictures from our place!

Living Room



Kitchen/Dining Room


Bedroom

Boys will be boys...

Chris read this book about the Dallas Cowboys called Boys Will Be Boys. It's about how out of control and ridiculous the team was in the 90s. For example, he made me read the first chapter of the book and the opening lines are "You can do a lot of things in life. You can't stab a teammate with a pair of scissors." So if you need something new to read, even if you don't like football, this book will keep you entertained!

Experiment? Or not?

I've been thinking about this a lot. Pretty much every time I make pizza.
See here's the thing. Since I started working, I've had to make the pizza dough the night before so it has enough time to rise. The first time I did this, I asked whether I could just refrigerate the dough and cook it the following day, or if I had to pre-cook the dough and refrigerate it in pizza crust form. I was informed that if I didn't pre-cook the dough that night, it would just continue to rise basically until I cooked it. I mean, after a couple of hours the dough is already touching the covering on the bowl! Anyway, it got me interested.
So here are my questions:
1. Have you ever let bread/dough rise for 24 hours and if so, did that ruin it, or was it just huge?
2. Should I attempt this experiment or is this a bad idea?

Let me know what you think...

I must miss school...

Today during work I had some down time with nothing to do. I surfed the internet for a little while and started getting bored. Then I decided to start learning Spanish! There are courses available online for free with pronunciation guides, vocabulary, and grammar lessons, so I did that for a couple hours. It passed the time quickly, but seriously. Do I miss school or what? Not the papers/exams/deadlines, but just the learning and free time!

Just asking for a ticket...

I mean, even I would pull this guy over.