Sunday focused around an outing to Gruene, Texas, where we soaked up some sun, plenty of beer (mostly by me) and took in the sounds of Paula Nelson (Willie Nelson’s daughter). Plenty of photos and video available in my private gallery.

I’ve only used it to reload .40 S&W, since that is all I shoot in my Smith & Wesson M&P pistols, but I imagine it won’t be too long until another caliber is added.

The UPS person was already in their truck and pulling away when I finally made it to the door. You know, their usual “knock-and-get-the-hell-out-of-here” delivery that they are so famous for when no signature is required. So as I opened the door and shouted a big thank you, because for some reason I feel that me expressing my appreciation will keep him coming back and delivering my packages in a somewhat steady and timely manner, I looked at the very carnival-esque box at the ground between my feet.

Upon picking it up, I was greeted with three words which instantly jolted my memory: Tastes Of Chicago. I came across an article on them several months ago and shared it with my mother. Needless to say, in all her awesomeness, she tucked the web site away and after all this time surprised me with their Eli’s V-Day Special which consists of a heart shaped cheese and sausage pizza, and a heart shaped raspberry cheese cake. Thanks Mom, you’re the best!

We caught the first show of “Grindhouse” at The Alamo (great Chris quote: It’s only 11:40 and I already have a buzz!) and then spent the next day visiting all the bars and locals that were shown during the film. Of course, what’s a visit to Texas without BBQ and Mexican food. The introduction of the deliciousness that is that of a Rudy’s breakfast taco, along with the gut-busting all you can eat BBQ at The Salt Lick, was almost too much for their weakened, meat depraved bellies.

The Play-Doh cologne arrived. Needless to say, it kicks some serious ass! My dream of smelling like delightful modeling clay has finally come to fruition. The trouble is, I am having a hard time deciding on where to wear it. Maybe it will make its grand debut at my weekly bike night this Thursday. The scent of Play-Doh should mix harmoniously with that of biker sweat, exhaust, cigars and beer.

I was getting a haircut the other day and there was a small boy there who was asking him mom if he and his friend could play outside for the rest of the afternoon. She told him that she would prefer if they stayed inside and played video games as she didn’t want him getting sweaty. Best mom ever!

Speaking of video games, I got my $400 Next-Gen System – now where are the games to play it on? I guess this is the typical summer dry spell before the rush of games for the holiday season.

I had a bit much to drink this past Saturday night and when I woke up Sunday morning there was a text message from my sister that read, “That’s too funny!”. I had no idea what she was talking about and after spending a couple hours thinking about it, it dawned on me to check to see if I had sent any text messages the night before. Sure enough I had. I now propose that “drunk texting” is the new form of the infamous drunk dial. It achieves the same result but doesn’t require the person you are contacting to have to listen to incoherent ramblings.

Well there are still a few more scribbled notes but I am talked out. I hate having one way conversations, you know?

I just walked in from a very long day and sitting in my inbox was one of the most awesome Emails I have recieved in a long time. Kelly wrote to say:

Sure enough, two retailers are stocking the cologne as you are reading this: the trendy Urban Outfitters and the online fragrance playground, Demeter. Have a good day? Nay, you have just made my year! Now the tough quesiton remains… one ounce or four?

I couldn’t help but to notice a strong medicinal smell every time I opened the refrigerator (or ice box as they call it here in the south) so I finally decided to investigate today. It only took me opening one of the drawers inside to turn this into a Dateline style undercover exposé. To my defense, we eat out a lot and consume mostly snacks while at home. Or maybe it is the fact that if there is something we want to eat, we go to the store, buy it and consume it immediately.

The below is certainly not complete but instead just contains some highlights from the horrors that were unearthed inside the big stainless steel tomb.

• ½ Gallon Skim Milk w/ 1 oz. of milk inside
• ½ Gallon Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice (Expired 03/06/06)
• 8 Eggs (Expire in 4 days. Chance of consuming: slim)
• Jar Ruby Red Grapefruit Slices (Expired 12/31/05)
• ½ Dozen Moldy Lemons
• ½ Dozen Moldy Limes
• Fresh Mint which is turning black
• Chopped up Onions and Celery (turned to mushy slime)
• 5 Moldy Cucumbers (soaking in moldy cucumber juice)
• 14 Packets of Taco Bell Fire Sauce
• 9 Packets Chick-Fil-A Honey Roasted BBQ Sauce
• 2 Dipping Cups of Papa John’s Buffalo Sauce
• 1 Stray Egg which was hiding in the butter shelf
• 5 Random Jars of Pickle Paraphernalia
• 4 Open Jars of Peach Salsa
• 5 Types of various BBQ Sauces
• 3 Types of various Mustards
• 5 Open bottles of Mayonnaise
• 3 Bottles of Champagne

I am sure I am personally responsible for the majority of that list. Matter of fact, that milk thing with leaving like an once left in the jug… that screams my name. The limes, considering I just bought some a few days ago and have been using them in addition to the mint (for mojitos), I probably forgot that there was an abundance of questionable limes already at home.

The Chick-Fil-A sauce – well, I’m amazed at its ability to compliment pretty much any type of food (much of the way imitation movie theater nacho cheese does). However, when you are in the drive thru and ask for some extra sauce packets you normally get a total of three. One day it was discovered that if you go in instead of taking the drive thru, you can help yourself to as many as you think you may need. I was like a greedy kid on Halloween when someone lets you pick out your own candy from the bowl.

And what’s the deal with the ruby red grapefruit? I remember, or at least think I remember, the juice was part of infamous “Bitch Slap” drink that Monica introduced Dwayne and I too. Actually… that’s not right. Now that I think about it, I believe it was from a drink Dwayne suggested called “Super Mario Sunshine”. I digress.

Mike went above and well beyond this year giving me one cool thing after another. Yesterday was a whirlwind of awesome as not only did I get my new exhaust setup installed on my motorcycle but also in the fact that my new MacBook Pro arrived a complete day early. Last weekend I had in incredible party with great friends over at the Walburg Restaurant which was only made even better by the fact that my mother flew in from Chicago to be there. And I even got to go see The World’s Fastest Indian at the theater for a second time.

Thanks to everyone who was able to share it with me and help celebrate.

Mike gave me such a great early birthday party last night while my mother was here visiting from Chicago. A total of 16 of us met up in Walburg, TX, at my favorite German place there for lots of food, beer, games, and live music. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had so much fun.

So while having an extremely enjoyable ride through the Texas Hill Country, I came upon a new experience. Somehow a bee got sucked up my pant leg and proceeded to strike revenge on the back of my calf for all its brethren who have been splattered against my bike in the past.

… of course Mike happened to be leading at that particular time and was riding in front of me. Somehow he missed all my honking / light flashing / yelling and continued to ride off into the sunny afternoon as I had to pull over and fight for my life to get it out of my pants… which happened to be next to a cemetery of all places.

Having no saddle bags, I also have no first aid kit, so the stinger is still lodged in my leg. I guess at some point I am going to have to dig it out as the combination of itching and burning from it are getting a bit tedious.

I was telling some friends about this over on a forum and apparently this is not that uncommon of a thing.

One show which is titled Morning Stories features the voice of Tony Kahn who directs and produces the show on WGBH. His voice is deep, somewhat gruff and all around hot. I don’t know what he looks like, which lets me use my imagination, but on to my point. The type of voice I just described almost always guarantees utter hotness in old men.

How does one go about getting a good radio / doctor voice? Do you have to smoke or drink a lot while you are younger? I don’t smoke but do consume my share of the sauce. Does anyone know that answer to this? I don’t want to miss out on my chance to have a nice sexy voice when I am older. Google came up empty.

After we exchanged greetings (his being pre-recorded) he asked me if I could do him a favor. “Of course”, I say. So he told me to press one on my phones key pad, which I eagerly did. Thanking me he said that it was time for us to begin. “Let’s do this!”, I demanded.

A click and short pause later a new voice, that of a person who was not Fred, and also a woman, came on and stated “Question One: In your scho…”. Heart broken, I immediately hung up and a single tear rolled down my left cheek.

I think the colors are very catchy and, while you can’t see it since didn’t shrink down graphically very well, the back of the card has a black linen style (like the back of Tiger’s Widgets) with a catch phrase on the bottom left of it.

I’ll let you know how they come out in person once I have them next week. Thanks, Monica!

While logged into my Blogger account there was a link in the “Blogs You Might Like” section called All Things Dunkin’ Donuts. I decided to check it out real quick and while I was there I just had this flashback to my childhood. Maybe it was the right combination of pink and orange but this memory of my grandpa just popped into my head.

I was pretty young when he died but one vivid recollection I have of us together is from when he and my grandma would come to visit. What seemed like every morning he was there, he would take me with him to my local Dunkin’ Donuts. It is so weird how well I remember doing this. The place had this really long wavy counter with pink and orange barstools that would only let you spin about 90 degress in each direction (a big disappointment when you are a kid). At the counter with us there would be like a half dozen retired guys sharing coffee and reading the news paper.

He would always order me the same thing as him. I don’t know if this is the official name, or if Dunkin’ Donuts still sells them but he called them “Bowties”. It was basically like a long glazed donut that was twisted into a bowtie shape. The person behind the counter would bring them to us on a plate and my grandpa would then take and put two pats of butter on each. I remember the butter was like a flat square and on one side there was white cardboard and the other some translucent paper that you would peel off to get the butter. I’ve never seen butter like that since. Anyway, he would then give the donuts back to them so they could heat ‘em up in the microwave and let the butter melt all over glaze.

He would drink coffee and I chocolate milk in the cardboard carton.

Now that I think about it, that same Dunkin’ Donuts (which sadly is now closed) provided an extremely amusing time for my sister and I much later in my life. I won’t go into detail but lets just say it was a cold and snowy night and there was a slippery curb and… oops, said to much!