Great Big Sea concert in Atlanta.

Tuesday night was the GBS concert. Megan and I left work a little early, drove to her house, and left in my car from there to Atlanta.

We miraculously avoided a pretty bad highway accident that stopped everyone else, so for five minutes or so we were the only car on I-85 South between Toccoa and Atlanta. The rest of the drive was straightforward and we arrived a half hour before the show.

Megan had her Nikon 40D camera with her, but the security guard told her that we couldn't bring in "professional" cameras. So we went back, put the camera in the car and went inside where we met Jacob, Elias, and Jesse. Jesse was in the middle of his week long trip from his home in Milwaukee.



Needless to say, the concert was great. It was my fifth GBS concert and the guys had all seen GBS before, but this was Megan's first time. Later on she told me it was the best concert she had ever attended. The only bad part was that the venue was a former movie theater, so there were theater seats in the way when everyone wanted to dance around.

Afterward we walked around the neighborhood (Little Five Points) for a bit and ended up at The Vortex.




As you can see from the photo of the entrance, the Vortex is an interesting restaurant. I had the Steakhouse burger with a 1/2 lb medium rare ground sirloin burger, swiss cheese, onions, mushrooms, and steak sauce along with fries and a Nostradamus belgian ale. Well fed, it was now time to say goodbye to the Brothers Kulp and drive home.

I drove half of the way back while Megan slept, and then when I started to drift off she took over and drove us to her house, where I drove home afterward. I got in bed at 3:30am and had to get up at 7:00am for work the next morning.

Speaking of driving, we took my 2006 Scion xB, which was still as-of-yet unnamed. (a crime I know) Since he is black and stealthy I went with Eben, which is a small name for a small car. He seems to be happier now that he has a name to introduce himself to other cars with.

Halloween Party

We had our annual Browncoat Halloween Party at Laura and Warren's house on Saturday. Megan and I showed up early and helped with some of the setup. I made a Halloween mix cd, she made a broccoli salad, and she also brought cups, napkins etc.

Highlights:

1. I won runner-up in the Male costume contest. I wore my Renaissance Faire Scot outfit with pre-tartan kilt, cutlery, and a leine for a shirt. Megan wore a very fetching tavern wench type costume with a fake bodice that was very attractive.

2. Warren's homemade Applejack - I'm not sure what the entirety of the mix consisted of, but I know there was a lot of Jack Daniels, Apple Cider, and Cinnamon. This was my main beverage of the evening, and it fit the fall theme perfectly. Since we were leaving shortly after midnight, I drank this freely from 6pm-10pm and switched over to diet soda. That seemed to be the sweet spot for drinking when I know I will have to drive eventually. I got a very light buzz for about an hour and it slowly faded. By the time we left I was fully awake from the caffeine and ready for the 45 minute drive home.

3. Spinach Artichoke dip. Yum! I mainly snacked on this and the brie all night.

4. Rock Band. The group playing overall was not very impressive, but I got a lot of oohs and ahhs when I joined in playing guitar on Expert. No one else was apparently able to play at a difficulty higher than Medium, which was kind of sad.

I always have a great time at any event at Laura and Warren's house.

Browncoat Delivery Service

One of the members of the Greenville Browncoats/UG gave birth to her first child this past Friday. Since neither her nor her husband's family could make it down for the birth, I got several local geeks to pull together and we got a lot of food together for them so that they don't have to cook with the first couple of weeks with the baby.

We had a slew of donations, including:

A 5lb rare prime rib
Homemade Jambalaya
2 Family-sized lasagnas
Cheese and Broccoli soup
Black Bean Enchilada Casserole
A huge pack of Chicken Pot Pies
Various Snacks
Homemade cookies
Breakfast Bread
Danishes
Frozen Veggies
Salad Mix

And even a Burt's Bees gift pack! Thank you so much to all the local geeks who gave generously of their time and money. Mandy was really appreciative, says that she will eat *everything*, and can't wait to see us at the Christmas party.

I snapped a couple of photos with my camera phone, but will have to wait until later tonight to upload them.

A Nice Little Dinner Party

Megan and Jacob came over last night for dinner, and we all had a great time. It was nice to finally get my oldest friend and my girlfriend to meet each other and they both enjoyed each other's company.

Jacob brought a brie and some crackers and we munched on that while playing a game of The Settlers of Catan. Afterward, I made pasta and prepared the salad and garlic bread while Megan taught Jacob to play a vindictively fun racing card game called Mille Bornes. The sauce was made by Megan according to her great-grandmother's recipe, and was very tasty. She also brought a bottle of Greg Norman 2004 Pinot Noir and that was a very nice wine.

After we ate, we played two games of Mille Bornes together and chatted for an hour or so.

It was a great time, and I want to have another small dinner party like this again before the end of the year.

Meet the Parents

Okay, I'm running a week or so behind in my blogging, but I guess it could be worse. Last Tuesday, I had dinner with Megan's family, meeting her parents and her son.

At first, her parents were pretty reserved, but her mom seemed to warm up to me after a few minutes whereas her father less so. As the evening progressed, we cleared away our dinner plates to converse on the screened-in porch. The conversation steered toward movies and sports, and he opened up to me a bit.

Megan's father you can tell is a very steadfast man, someone you respect almost immediately after meeting and wish to earn his respect in return. Her mom is a warm and open caregiver, and you can see most of Megan's best qualities in both of them. I met her sister again; we've briefly met at Dragon*Con and at a movie gathering, but I've never really talked with her. She's nice, but very quiet around me as I'm an unknown at this point. I think she'll open up more as she gets to know me.

I had briefly met Megan's 5-year-old son Josh before Megan and I started dating, but this was my first time meeting him as "Mommy's special friend". Megan and I decided that we would wait until we were sure we're going to work out before introducing me into his life, and now that we're starting to make long-term plans, I'm overjoyed at finally getting to spend some time with him.

He's a sweet kid, very loving, and he was enthralled with his new Iron Man costume. As I pulled my car into the driveway, he ran out, grabbed my hand, and led me into the house. Megan tells me he can be a holy terror at times, but what five-year-old isn't? I look forward to getting to know him over the coming months.

Oh, dinner was fabulous. Megan's sister Jessica made a roast beef that was perfect; a bit more than medium rare, but less than medium well. I prefer my steak to be more rare, but for the roast it worked out well. Accompanying the roast were mashed potatoes, green peas, and corn. After the meal, we sat out on the porch and talked as the sun went down.

I made a couple of wrong turns in the subdivision, so it took a bit longer to get home. When I arrived home, I called Megan to ask how it went. Her dad told her that I was extremely nice, and that he approved. They must have liked me at least a bit as I've been invited over for Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to it, and will be much less nervous than I was at this meal.

Camping!

Megan* and I went camping at Hot Springs, NC over the weekend. We left my house at 1:30pm on Friday and arrived at the campground two hours later after a pleasant drive through the mountains. Being that this trip was for simple relaxation and not for wilderness adventure, the first thing we did was setup camp and then take a nap.

Later in the evening we discovered that I left my stove behind, so instead of the paella that Megan thought we were making, we ended up having pizza from the camp store for dinner along with a few screwdrivers. I had a hard time getting the fire going that night as the wood was a bit wet and I didn't have enough pencil-sized kindling.

The next day we slept in and read for a few hours until Lauren, Megan's friend from work, and her fiance Corey arrived. I had technically met them before, but had no idea they were such fun people. We played a game of Settlers of Catan, Stitcheln, and then we had hot dogs & smores over the campfire. This fire caught with one match now that the wood was dry and that I took the time to make proper kindling. We were up for hours hanging around the fire with a few beers, telling stories.

On Sunday we again slept in and had a late breakfast with Lauren and Corey. We left the camp around 1:30pm and stopped at a Boston Market restaurant in Asheville on the way back.

All in all an incredibly relaxing trip. I've now been to Hot Springs 4 out of the past 5 Octobers and Megan has stated that she wants this to be a yearly trip.

*you may have seen me use both Megan and Karly as the name of my girlfriend. Her birth name is Megan, but when she started using internet forums she wanted something more anonymous so she started using Karly and now several people only know her as Karly. I prefer to use Megan, but I'll probably use both from time to time.

Bailout: Just Do Nothing

This is a cop-out as it's just a repost, but it pretty much echoes my opinion:

From The LA Times:

"I am a huge proponent, at all times, of doing nothing. Remember when everyone was filling bunkers with millet because computers wouldn't be able to handle a year with three zeros in it? I stayed Calvin Coolidge cool. After America was attacked on 9/11, I suggested keeping our armies home. When John McCain responded to the economic crisis he'd have to deal with as president by suspending his campaign, I started to think that maybe he's my guy after all.

Even though I understand so little about economics that much of my long-term investments are tied up in Costco products, I feel pretty sure that letting Congress give Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson $700 billion to buy super-crappy mortgages is not the right call.

Sure, like any American, when I see a photo on the Internet of an adorable little investment bank and find out it's at risk of being put to sleep, I want to throw in $2,000 to $3,000 of my own money to adopt it. But instead of jacking up inflation, letting the dollar sink further and paying higher taxes so we can keep up cheap borrowing -- which is what this plan amounts to -- I think we need to let those who made bad loans get burned. We need to accept that credit will dry up and that maybe -- for just a bit -- we'll have to stop buying more than we can afford."

Although had I been more financially mobile before 9/11 I probably would have had a bunker full of millet.

Wonderful Evening

Last night was probably one of the best evenings I've ever experienced.

Karly and I have been officially dating for just over a month, and yesterday she me at my workplace at 5:45. Since I work in the heart of downtown Greenville, we walked down to Falls Park and spent a few hours in the park walking around, swinging, watching people accidentally throw a frisbee into the river twice, and singing songs from Les Miserables.

As night encroached we climbed out of the park. I say climbed, because the entrance to the park is at street level and several paths take you further into a small valley until you reach the river base which is probably 100-200 feet higher in elevation. I showed her other pretty sections of the town and we had a wonderful kiss at the top of a waterfall that made her feel like she was back in Paris. We eventually found ourselves at Blue Ridge Brewing Company for dinner where she ordered the fish and chips and I ordered the Hunter's Pie, which is a shepard's pie with buffalo, duck, and rabbitt in a bechamel sauce. It was tasty, and she very much enjoyed her two foot-long planks of fish after she liberally doused them with Malt Vinegar. I had a high gravity stout with the meal and she had a hard cider.

Afterward, we walked back to my workplace and sat on a bench outside talking for an hour. There was a bit of kissing, and then we each went our separate ways.

Nothing fancy, but a wonderful evening.