Author: Sean

One last shot of my adorable nephew.

I think we all need to ask ourselves why we don't own a trampoline?

Who is Natalie Morales? She's the perky fill-in on the Today show on weekends and holidays. I only catch that program when my wife plays it on Saturdays, and that's the perfect time to see her . The show is done in very high quality HDTV and so it's like I'm joined at breakast by the fetching Ms. Morales perched on a stool (and also my wife not on a stool).

She is like Maria Shriver's hot younger sister.

Natalie is not in circulation (married) and neither and am I. But the wife considers her an acceptable crush for three reasons:

1.) It keeps me from griping when the Today show is on.

2.) Natalie is as old as my wife.

3.) Because she is on a morning program and I sleep until 9 most days, the odds of us ever meeting are slim to none.

Links:

Natalie Morales Wikipedia <- Crazy! It does not exist. C'mon Interwebs!

Abandoned iVillage Blog

I used to walk by this nativity every day on my way to work before I moved. Perennially, someone would steal the baby Jesus, so I never saw him before I happened by the other day. He's a happy little guy. I can't believe I didn't blog him before. There's some awesome horn based music blaring out of a loudspeaker hidden near him.

I was convinced I blogged this before, so I just looked at all my Decembers: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002. Weird. Christmas happens every year. I never blogged the nativity before though.

Toad Hall, once on of my favorite bars…actually one of my favorites until about 11PM last night, is now considered off limits. The space is so nice, the beer so cold, and there is no food. All that leads to very unpleasant work mornings.

Are you bored in an empty office now? Check out a list of links from the Sports Guy. Some good ones:

• The Big Dig is done, with before and after photo goodness.
• 101 TV Intros including The Fall Guy
• Like me, some one else has wondered why they don't use really fat guys as goalies in the NHL.

My lovely wife is obsessed with the Food Network. Every one of her culinary heroes is continuously dumping things into a monster KitchenAid mixer (Alton's has flames), so I decided to get her one just like theirs for Christmas. The beast weighs 472 pounds, which is much too heavy to lug to New Jersey, so I wrapped a photograph of it in our living room instead.

Interestingly, my father bought my mother the exact same mixer for their first Christmas as a married couple. That says something about the iconic KitchenAid mixer and the Conrad hereditary love of cookies.

Thanks to Mary and Aaron for an excellent holiday party. I particularly enjoyed the stout nog. To make it, you open a bottle of stout and pour it in the glass.

Hiking highpoints is one of my obsessions and I think that 2008 is the year to do Mount Rainier. I'm putting together an expedition to summit in July or August. You should join me. I won't lie to you, there are some downsides. To prepare, a person should get in the best shape of their life, doing walks with a 40 pound pack. The trip will be a little pricey. It's about $1200 for the five days of guiding and mountaineering training. There's probably an additional $1000 of gear to buy. It will burn up 5 or 6 vacation days. There is a risk of frostbite, altitude sickness, and falling into a crevasse.

So why would you want to do this? One, it's cool to be in shape. It's also just plain cool to climb mountains. It's a great incentive to get you to the gym.

These are all good reasons. But there are two really wonderful benefits. First, the view and majesty of experiencing a mountain by foot is undescribingly affecting. Second, the beers with the guys after the hike are the best tasting in the world.

If that's not enough, this climb will also give you a legitimate excuse to buy an ice axe. That's awesome.

To see what I mean about the joy of toppinng , look at some of the views and smiles of former Hiking Trips That Were Awesome:

• Guadalupe Peak, Texas
• Boundary Peak, Nevada
• THE Grand Canyon
• Mount Humphreys, Arizona
• Bear Mountain, Connecticut
• Algonquin, Adirondacks, New York
• Mount Washington, New Hampshire
• Mount Mansfield, Vermont
• Mount Greylock, Massachusetts

Planning Links:

• Mount Rainier National Park
• Alpine Ascents International
• International Mountain Guides LLC
• Rainier Mountaineering, Inc.
• Recommended Physical Training
• Equipment List

There were random fireworks in the hood again last night. The mlw gets transcendant during fireworks display. I watched for a bit and then went back to watching cage fighting on Spike TV. To-may-toe, to-mah-tah, you know?

As an after word to yesterday, few meaningless spats can't be solve with crossing apologies, good food, and flowers. The mlw got me these.

…

I need to buy a Christmas gift for my brother Jerry. He's married, 2.3 kids, lives in the burbs, and travels a lot for work. He already owns most of the tech gadgets he would want. He reads this blog. He doesn't have a ton of spare time. So what should I get him? Please add to the comments, but I think we know the answer: horse tranquillizers.

Last night, the crew from work hit Fat Cats for some shuffle board to say goodbye to my friend and now former worker Dave. He's heading off to do some consulting, but I still expect to be seeing him and a few pints once in awhile.

On a related note, I love shuffle board.