Went to Tampa, FL this weekend. It was a very fast vacation. But it was also a lot of fun. My friend Kevin and I went to many different places and ate a lot.
I’ll post pictures of the places we went to.
-brian
It’s time for that year again, where No Shave November goes into effect. I will be participating this year, having just finished trimming my mustache last night so that I will be able to avoid getting food in it.
What are the rules?
-Guys – No shaving of the face
-Girls – No shaving of the legs
-In the United States – Keep the hair growing at least until Thanksgiving. (This way you can look fresh and clean for family)
-You are allowed to trim at 15 days, however, this is strongly discouraged.
-Rest of the world – You are asked to participate until the end of the month, besides, it’ll help you stay warm.
Now start growing!
Can hardly wait to swing down to Florida and spend some time with my friend Kevin. It’s been a while since I’ve been down there and I try to visit him at least every two years.
This time he’s living in Tampa, so I will be visiting yet another area of Florida. I’ve been to Ocala, Fort Myers and the Orland area so far. We’ve also taken road trips around the state.
Now that I’ve spent some time chilling and being a bachelor, I think it’s time to get my rear in gear and start doing stuff around the house.
Visited Andy Monday and Tuesday evenings – just to chat and we put together a grill last night.
I had to clean out the gutter yesterday because the leaves got stuck in them and the gutters were getting filled with water with the rain. Anyone have any good ways of preventing leaves from getting into the gutter in the first place? Or should I just take a hose and give it a good ole’ cleaning every spring?
I’m looking at my hallway being tempted to rip out the carpeting. The question is how late can I stay up tonight. I figure since tomorrow is garbage day I could dump a few old carpet pieces in the trash bags.
I also have to start exercising. I found a cool iPhone app at loseit.com Check it out. So you should see me starting to post some weight loss / eating habits. Hold me accountable!
It sounds like my wife is having a fun time in Mexico. I miss her a bit, but doing ok – looking forward to seeing what she posts on Facebook.
-brian
I had a very busy past weekend, we went up north to see my sister in law graduate. Two funny things happened on the way home…
Funny part #1: We had pulled off just outside of Madison to a gas station to fill up my car and on the opposite side of the fueling station was this old lady who was struggling to figure out how to pop her gas tank cover. I showed her where it was and as we were pumping gas into each of our respective cars, she starts to strike up a conversation about how much gas was cheaper in Wisconsin than in Illinois, her driving up to a farm, etc. I finished before she did and ran inside to pay for the gas as I was picking up some coffee for the last leg of the trip home. Meanwhile, she paid at the pump, and told Haley who was waiting in the car, something to the effect of, “Your SON was such a nice young man…” (Now for those of you who don’t know, my wife Haley is almost 10 yrs younger than I am.) Hilarious! So I came back and the lady was driving off – she waved and I saw that she hadn’t put her gas cap back on and shut the gas cap door…I ran after her and even managed to tap her car a bit in an effort to get her attention but she kept on driving.
Funny part #2: Second funny thing that happened on the way home is what Haley said…. there was a group of motorcyclists driving past us… and a good portion of them were female… and Haley commented… “There’s CHICKS EVERYWHERE!”… I turned to look at her quizzically and we just burst out laughing…
Good times… 
Why would an advertisement say…”Wanna see man boobs? | Best discipline technique ever” on a web site for baby care?
With warm chocolate and melted cream filling, this utterly decadent dessert is guaranteed to knock your socks off.
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 eggs
4 egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons Grand Marnier
For the white-chocolate truffle:
6 ounces white chocolate
3 tablespoons heavy cream
3 tablespoons softened butter
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier
1. Melt butter in a double boiler over medium-low heat.
2. Add chocolate chips, heating until mixture is melted.
3. Combine sugar and cornstarch in a large mixing bowl.
4. Add chocolate mixture to sugar mixture and beat well.
5. In a separate bowl, combine four eggs, four yolks, and Grand Marnier. Add this to the chocolate mixture and beat until well mixed. Cover and chill overnight.
6. Melt the white chocolate and heavy cream in a double boiler over low heat. Add butter and Grand Marnier and stir until smooth. Chill overnight.
7. Butter and flour six 5-ounce ramekins. Fill 1/3 of each with the chilled chocolate mixture.
8. Add a rounded tablespoon of the truffle mixture. Fill to the top with the chocolate mixture.
9. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Let the cakes sit for 15-20 minutes before inverting. Run a knife around the edges to loosen. Serve with chocolate sauce, raspberries, and/or ice cream if desired. Serves 6.
I will be participating in a Facebook fast for 2 weeks. Starting today, Wednesday at 1pm until Wednesday May 12th at 1pm.
Encouragement and prayer is appreciated.
-brian
After an evening of grilling steak and chicken for 10 people and baking desserts…it’s time to relax. Wish I had a hot tub! :)