Author: Sean

I made a trip to New England this weekend to drink wine and play video games. Matt and I knocked off a case of vino rosa de la casa and conquered Cabela’s Alaskan Adventure. Amidst all this life-wasting, we did take some time to give Scooter a bath. It’s a most enjoyable process. He is so well trained that he will not run, but he only approaches a few inches closer every time you call him.

The entire time in the tub, he wears the saddest of faces. Any break in the action is met with a vigorous shaking (captured in today’s pic). However, he dives willingly into the tall and is made transcendent by the rubbing. He also enjoys the hair dryer and really kicks back for a good brushing.

If you can’t tell, I’m a little bit fond of this dog. He never barks and he likes to help out as much as possible. Plus, he smells like me.

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Site of the Day:

…and blinds, and mirrors, and curtain rods. I have been hanging things for my friend Lauren for five years. The reasons are because I love my drill, she gives me wine and food, and I am the only person she trusts not to destroy her wall. She a particular gal and likes a shelf to be level.

Everytime I hang things for various friends I always forget to bring one essential tool. Traveling in NYC is too tough with a full toolbox, so I just put a few items in a bag. I’m using this post to store a list for future reference.

1. tape measure
2. drill w/ spare battery
3. awl
4. bits
5. screwdriving bits
6. screwdriver
7. box of matching screws and sleeves
8. hammer
9. level
10. box cutter
11. vice grips
12. pencil and pen (the inside of a pen is good for marking screw spots through small holes)
13. stud finder
14. condoms

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Site of the Day: Take my couch…please.

Martin Short does a send-up of all celebrities with a “one-man” show that also features a talented ensemble. His Broadway and TV comedy skills lead to impressive and funny numbers. The humor is often scatological and the central theme is the ridiculousness of fame, but moments of true wit shine through (Glick makes a visit).

Short overplays himself with clichés; childhood abuse, drug abuses, name dropping. He maintains this megalomania while telling a fake autobiography, but permits upstaging by the cast to reveal his ruse. The romp never takes itself seriously—only one act—thus the audience gets laugh-filled ride.

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Thanks to the wtb (wife-to-be) and her friend Kelly for the fourth row seats score.

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Site of the Day: I need to go home to Altoon now to get trans-fats!

I don’t have a too much to say today and the weekend went by in a blur, so I figure I might as well create and give a standardized status report. Perhaps it will become a meme.

Sean’s Current Status
Weight: 172lbs. Backing down from the peak a few weeks ago. Being over 30 sucks.
Hair (head): Mostly there, cut well, and looking good.
Hair (facial): None, but I think I am do for some sort of hobby-stache. For the holidays.
Work Status: Exceptionally busy with Internet Explorer 7 support across all the company products. Also a new initiative that I am not at liberty to discuss yet.
Work Happiness: 7 on a scale of 1-10, which is as good as it gets unless I am getting paid to fly-fish or spray tan on Jessica Simpson.
Personal Life Maintainance: Most of my free time currently is packing and preparing for the move (December 15th-ish). This involves a massive purge: books to Crosby Street Housing Works Bookstore, clothes to the Bowery Mission, a bunch of furniture for a prayer on Craigslist, and tons of old crap to the garbage bin. Perhaps monks have the right idea on owning no stuff.
Love Life: Happily engaged and fighting off all wedding planning until after the big move. Much of our quality time is now elaborate contracted negotiations on which furniture to keep and how to paint the new place. I appear to be losing.
Hobbies: As a person who enjoys obsessions, I am sadly between any. I’ve been devouring Neal Stephenson novels, but not creating anything on my own. I think my next project is to build a silent computer to serve music and movies in my new living room. Also, this site is in need of an overhaul.
Frquented Restaurant: Mottsu. I love the raw fish.
Frquented Bar: Revival on 15th street. Mary and Tyler work around the corner and they seem to be the easiest folks to round up for afterwork drinks these days. Nice murals and outdoor seating.
Current Bummers: I haven’t seen a lot of folks in a long while. Maybe we need more football watching or something. I’m out of shape. I currently have no plans to climb any mountains. I hate Christmas shopping.
Current Joys: HDTV, Ildi after 1-1/2 Guinness, 8 vacation days left, Odwalla Citrus C Monster, emails from out of touch friends and relatives.
This Weekend’s Plans: Drinking eight bottles of Rioja and conquering Super Mario with Matt this weekend in what will likely be my last trip ever to Providence.
Ultimate Christmas Gift to Get: PS3, Onkyo HDMI A/V Receiver, or tickets to Thailand
Ultimate Christmas Gift to Give: A puppy, which would also be giving up years of my time. Maybe next Christmas.
Current Secret: My true hobby is plucking nose hairs.
Current Celebrity Crush: Karen from The Office (USA)
Weirdest Recent Dream Cameo: Barbara Mandrel

Feel free to copy this list and fill out your own answers, print it out, tape it to an Onkyo HDMI A/V receiver OR a PS3 and mail it back to me.

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Site of the Day: Apparantly New Jersey is near NYC. With respect to the future in-laws and my friend Kelly, I’m glad to be headed to the BK.

I grew up in central Pennsylvania. James Carville once said of the state that it is Philly, Pittsburgh, and Alabama in the middle. Before his quip, many a student at PSU from Philly would make fun of me for being from “Pennsyl-tucky.” While my outdoor hobbies have narrowed in on fly-fishing and hiking mountains, because of where I’m from I’ve had quite a bit of exposure to hunting. This brings me to the Cabela’s catalog, a tome I receive every Christmas season.

While L. L. Bean left its sportsman roots for yuppy-ville, Cabela’s has embraced them. It’s an inch thick guide to everything tree-bark camo (the pattern not absconded by fashionistas, but worn by Larry the Cable Dick). I love gadgets and like other hobbies, hunting has an enormous assortment of paraphernalia allowing unlimited spending on the enthusiast this Christmas. And also like other hobbies, there exists items that you could never even imagine. Here is list of ten bizarre items I discovered while perusing the catalog last night:

1.) Commercial Food Dehydrator – Imaging living in a house that produces hundreds of pounds of jerky. That would be heaven for a saltaholic like myself. You’d also need the Jerky Blaster.

2.) Neoprene Blaze Orange Dog Vest – The pooch cuts a trim figure in this somewhat s&m garment. There’s four pages of dog supplies, all of which I like.

3.) Self-inflating Turkey Decoy – Who has time to blow air up a fake turkey’s ass?

4.) Dead Fowl Trainer Shark – You know, for kids.

5.) Gun Kit – I actually really want this. It’s like a model, except when you are done you have real Fenimore Cooper special. Sweet!

6.) Woman’s Silk Underwear – If I bought the fiancé lingerie from Cabela’s…well, let’s just say the couch would know me.

7.) Afican Safari for the PS2 – I’d love to gut a lion…virtually.

8.) Thompson Sub-machine Rubber Band Gun – The more I do this list the more items I find that I actually want, no, need!

9.) Shotgun Shell Bandolier – We don’t need no stinkin’ badges!

10.) Folding Real Camo Texas Hold’em Table – The only real hunting that occurs in an hunting camp is the rifling through the truck glove compartment looking for spare money to get back into the game. I actually think this table would be awesome to have in my new place.

Maybe this will help with your Christmas shopping. My parents sent me pics of a retail store in Hamburg, PA once and there is a new one coming to East Rutherford. I can hardly wait. We’l make a day of it.

Next week…The Container Store!

So I’m moving to Brooklyn very shortly. The extended entry has some pics of the new place. We want to paint the red accent wall a new color. Any suggestions?

Site of the Day:

BrooklynHeightsBlog.com

Thanks to my brother Dan and sister-in-law Kelly for a fantastic Thanksgiving in Dallas, Texas. The food and wine were scrumptious and the hostpitality definitely was Texas sized. There a ton more pictures here.

Happy Turkey Day, Everybody! I’m in sunny Dallas. Dan’s got the bird in the oven and the Lions are on the big screen. I hope you and yours are celebrating in your own way. In Texas, we get to shoot something post dinner.

Site of the Day: Take a look at the NYC Thanksgiving mascot, the wild turkey of Battery Park.

“L-Y-N is the place where I stay.” Like Mos Def, it’s official that the wife-to-be and I will be living in Brooklyn. I’ve said a lot of nasty things about Brooklyn in the past and you might think I need to eat some crow now. You are wrong. Being in love means never having to say you are sorry, and here at STC.com it’s all love for STC.

I will move there and to people who say “I told you so” I shall bark like a dog.

At least it’s not on Staten Island:

Link:
– Mos Def – Brooklyn Lyrics “Sittin on they front stoop sippin Guinesses…”
– Arial view of the new place
– “For me–a 100% close-minded Manhattan snob–Brooklyn will always be second best.”
– My previous Brooklyn experiences.

I didn’t take many pics this weekend, but I did cook a ton of food and have people over for the OSU/Michigan game. The kids came out in droves for the food and also to celebrate Mary and Aaron’s birthdays. I’m using this as an opportunity to record my Slow-cooker/Crockpot BBQ Beef recipe.

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Site of the Day: NSFW- Kramer is nuts. Eh, who cares?