Monday, July 14, 2014

Midwest Trip Bucket List *UPDATE*

Do y'all like my new necklace??



I have finished up DAY FOUR of my trip and here is what I have crossed off my "To Do" List.......

Go see something historic in Pittsburgh
Go to a Trader Joe's(never been in one)
*  Go have alcoholic milk shakes(again).
Go to World Market
Go have Afternoon Tea
*  Go swimming
*  Eat Cheese Curds
*  Visit at least 1 Brewery...ok, maybe 2 or 5
*  Go see some movies....Tammy.....Chef.....Begin Again.......or ?
*  Eat some local foods.....like cheese, brats, fried pork tenderloin sammiches, strange Scandinavian concoctions, etc.
Go to liquor stores and buy beverages we can't get here
*  Go to a parade
*  Learn to play the bagpipes
*  Go to a county fair
*  Go to Chicago for the day by train
*  Eat at Fabio's restaurant
*  Visit the World's Largest Truck Stop
*  Go see the Largest Lutefisk in the World

I have also added these things to my list.......

Eat at Primanti Bros.
Eat local ice cream
Buy "Naughty" Novelties
Go Thrifting
Spend way too much money



Who knows what today will bring?
Certainly not I!

Sluggy

Sunday, July 13, 2014

I'm Here!

Just a quickie to let everyone know I am not dead yet(but alas, still pining for the fjords).
I made it to Illinois yesterday despite the monsoon I drove through in Indiana.

As proof I am in the Midwest now, I offer up this photo as evidence......



Yep, that's my little car making like a large lawn ornament in Sonya Ann's front yard.

I am feeling rough this morning....oh heck! it's almost NOON here......feeling rough this afternoon then.

We are heading out for some shenanigans adventures shortly.
I'll report in later when we return if I am still sober.

Sluggy

Thursday, July 10, 2014

The Kid Comes Home

My oldest son came home for a few days the week before the July 4th Holiday.

We hadn't seen him since just after Christmas of last year, when we went out to Pittsburgh to visit him and his girlfriend.

They arrived Tuesday early in the evening.

Our old beagle, Cherry, remembered our son even though he hasn't been home in over a year......



We had a couple of drinks and sat and talked well into the evening.
The next morning I took #1 Son and GF out to run errands.

The GF wanted to hit Old Navy to use a coupons that expired that day.
Unfortunately she realized she forgot to bring it on the trip.

I think these mannequins placed at the entrance are very creepy......


#1 Son gives his opinion on the shirts GF picked out for him to choose from.
Hey!  Our mannequin buddy in turquoise seems to like that one......


Both GF and I thought this hat looked rather dashing on him.
Kind of goes well with that Bob Marley shirt he is wearing, don't it?


Then we were off to 5 Below on the other end of the strip mall.
They had a wall of games.
Gee, you can play a classic board game that they ripped-off/turned into an online game and now they made that online version a RL/board game again.

HUH!?
What's old is new again, is old again......


#1 Son and I try out our super powers.......
I have to say, I hope the reason this Spidey mask is in here at a deep discount is because whoever designed it forgot to put an indented area where a person's nose is suppose to go.....ouch.



The GF was suppose to be Iron Man but she declined to don her mask.

So just to embarrass the kids more, I put on this mask/disguise......


I look rather fetching as a mustached elderly gentleman, no?

Then it was off to a beer store where #1 Son picked up some brewskis he can't get out in Pittsburgh.
I picked up Hubs 3 bottles of stuff......2 he likes and something new for him to try......

I also got a box of these for myself......


Verdict......this is my new BFF.

After that we hit Wegman's where #1 Son wanted to check out their brewskis(do you see a theme developing here?!?)and I did some grocery shopping for the week.

Then on the way home we hit the Georgetown Deli/Beer Store so #1 Son could, you guessed it, check out the brewskis.
I waited in the car this time.




That night we took the family out to the Hibachi Restaurant to celebrate #1 Son's birthday.
 
 

The GF trying to get out of camera range.....hahaha......too late!
 

Our chef.
Much to the disappointment to my kids, he did NOT have a rubber chicken in his toque so I didn't make a spectacle of myself laughing hysterically the rest of the evening.


That's ok.
I have other ways to embarrass my kids....

 

I shot a little video of the show......



I didn't get the sake shots footage since I was too busy opening my mouth and getting sake shot into it.....
 

#1 Son open wide waiting for his sake stream from the squeeze bottle.


 
#1 Son's GF took away his fork before the meal was served so he had to use chopsticks.
He finally got smart about it, after all his meat and veggies were gone, and picked up his plate to shovel the rice into his mouth.
 



And then the waitress brought out a little tiny cake with a candle in it.......and a gong.
Listen to me be unPC at the end of this clip with my singing fake Chinese.
Yes, I was feely fiiiiiine by then.....lolz




We got a treat while driving home too.
As we drove down the main street in our teeny tiny town toward home that evening, a black bear crossed the road about 50 yards ahead of us
Too bad I didn't have my camera ready to capture the moment.
We've lived here almost 14 years and have never seen a bear in town.
In our backyard, yes, but in town, no.


On Thursday Hubs, #1 Son, GF and I took a drive to Berwick.
I wanted to stop by the Surplus Outlet and see what deals they had and yes, I brought home some foodstuffs.

Then we went to the The Berwick Brewing Company in downtown Berwick.

It's housed in an old factory building of some sort but they have a "Bier Garden" out back, behind the building too.
It was a pleasant weather day so we sat out there and had the place to ourselves.
Here's the view over the fence.....




Close up of the confluence of a stream into the Susquehanna River.


Hubs and #1Son both got a flight of samples.
I got a Vanilla Bean Porter.  When that was finished I switched to Root Beer since I was driving.


Cheers!


Later #1Son and GF got some large glasses of Dunkel Weizen.
Everybody else got sloshed.
Oh, and there was pizza and pretzels too.


And the reason the Bier Garden was empty on a gloriously nice day?
Because the World Cup was on and the USA was playing.....


I've heard of wearing your heart on your sleeve, but this guy wore his patriotism on his back.


Of course the week after we went here they tapped a keg of Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout.....sniff, sniff......


We finished off the day with a fire.......and smores.....mmmmmm!

Saturday morning #1 Son helped Hubs make a batch of beer. 


This batch was Pale Ale.
The measuring, cooking and straining took most of the morning.


We hit the local Chinese buffet Restaurant for lunch and I actually got everyone in the photo.....well, except for me.....



We bopped downtown after that to show #1 Son where the local Hookah bar was since he promised to take #2 Son there as a graduation gift.

After that since we just happened to be near Rita's, we got an ice.....


The evening was just snacks and drinks and another fire and some people had smores again.

The next morning #1 Son and the GF headed out for home.
It was a short visit but a good one with a lot of laughs.



And I get to hang out with them again later today too when I hit Pittsburgh.
Yay me!

Sluggy
 

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Sluggy's Midwest Trip Bucket List




Here's a list I started of things I want to do on this Midwest Trip.  Some of these are my own ideas and some of them are things folks I am visiting have come up with.

*  Go see something historic in Pittsburgh
*  Go to a Trader Joe's(never been in one)
*  Go have alcoholic milk shakes(again).
*  Go to World Market.
*  Go have Afternoon Tea
*  Go swimming
*  Eat Fried Cheese Curds
*  Visit at least 1 Brewery...ok, maybe 2 or 5
*  Go see some movies....Tammy.....Chef.....Begin Again.......or ?
*  Eat some local foods.....like cheese, brats, fried pork tenderloin sammiches, strange Scandinavian concoctions, etc.
*  Go to liquor stores and find beverages we can't get here
*  Go to a parade
*  Learn to play the bagpipes
*  Go to a county fair
*  Go to Chicago for the day by train
*  Eat at Fabio's restaurant
*  Visit the World's Largest Truck Stop
*  Go see the Largest Lutefisk in the World

Unfortunately I'll be leaving Iowa the day R.A.G.B.R.A.I. starts so I won't get to see that.
It's Iowa's answer to the Tour de France and it runs right through my friend Anne's town but I will have left already when it goes through.


Oh so much to do and see!

Check back over the next few weeks and see which ones I have ticked off my list.....

Sluggy
 

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Well THAT was Fun!


Let me just preface this by saying I love/hate technology!

The old camera has been doing it's best to convince me that it is possessed......or a menopausal woman
Take your pick.

One moment it's fine and taking good pictures again.
The next moment, it's doing the camera equivalent of projectile vomiting and spinning it's head around.....
 


So I trotted down to Best Buy this morning to get a new camera.

And the "learning new technology" fun began.

Picked out a new machine with the help of the BB guy, spent a bit more than I wanted to but still kept it under $200 including a new SD card, because of course, the old one I have in the old camera isn't the right size for this new camera.
Figures, right?

I get it home and start going through the manual and setting it up.
And there is no mention in the manual, either the paper one or the downloadable PDF you can download online about how to download your photos to your computer via a USB and cord.

There is only the mention of wireless downloading shots via the WIFI capability to the Cloud and/or your smartphone....neither of which I "do".

That's fine and dandy and I am sure I'll get that set up but 2 days before I plan to use this thing on a trip is NOT the time to have to use higher functioning places in my brain to figure this all out.

So I inspect the cameras nooks and crannies to see if I can find somewhere to plug a cord in.
Finally locate it and the 2 different USB cords I have don't fit.

Lovely......

So not wanting to go back out and find the right USB cord to buy, I set about to set up the WIFI connectivity function.

First I need to download the software from Canon's website.
Locate the website, find the software and commence downloading.
Finishes downloading.
I got to open it up and it's a ZIP file.

My computer can't open ZIP files because it didn't come with that ability/software so this means I now have to PAY Microsoft for something or other so I can unzip files. (I have been able to avoid paying for this so far in my computer adventures.)

Lovely......

So at that moment, I have a $200 camera that makes a lovely door stop.....except that it doesn't weigh enough to knock out a hummingbird, should one hover nearby and I were to get an itch to throw this blasted camera at him/her.

Luckily, before I took both cameras out to the fire pit, doused them with lighter fluid and set them afire, Hubs came home and, after hearing my tales of woe, brought down from his lair a spare USB cable that he had laying around up there.

And it fit the camera!!!
Yay......

I took some shots and a movie and tried downloading them.

The still pictures came out fine but you can't actually SEE the video, you can just hear me on it.

Hubs went online and this seems to be a problem with this camera when using Microsoft's viewer thingy.  So if I actually want to see any movies I make I have to upload them to YouTube or download some other movie player thingy(which may or may not cost more money).

Lovely.....

Anyway, here is a shot of the new camera, taken with the old camera....


Here is the old camera, shot taken by the new camera......


And here is some puppy porn, 1st one taken with new camera.....


And this shot take with the old camera when it was behaving.......


The new camera takes a slightly sharper image and seems to have truer colors.

I know I'll live through this mostly unscathed but darn it!, I am a creature of habit and I don't like my technology routines disrupted by a learning curve thang.

Sluggy