Well, Christmas greetings and seasons tiding and holiday wishes and all that to all ya'll out there. We're quickly approaching the best holiday of the year, Christmas! Welcome to a special edition of Lost in Greenville. Since every edition is special, just saying it means nothing. In fact, it's free, so there's your gift. Merry Christmas. The tree has only been up in our household for a week or so and it's the only decoration. I don't have time or energy to mess with that stuff this year, especially since we'll have to redesign our lights and other docarations to suit the new house. Any other year, I am more than happy to put it all up and bask in the warm glow of pretty lights and candles. With our jobs being so crazy lately, and the fact that we're travelling at Christmas, we didn't see a good reason to worry about all of it. And the best part is that there's less to take down and the even bestest part is that we have a nice attic in which to store it all this year.
Erin and I went to my company Christmas party last weekend and had a great time. It was at the Marriott and FREE so of course I went!
Here's my bride. She looked fantastic.
There was a portable dancefloor complete with the annoying dj that makes you do things you don't want to do. The music was pretty good, but I'm not much of a dancer. Neither was Dennis, so we sat and played with our phones instead of dancing. He just got the G1 so it was worth it!
The food was out of this world. The ONLY thing I didn't like was that the filet was way undercooked and I actually had to kill the cow myself due to the annoying mooing sounds. Plus I got free Corona Light FTW.
Just when I thought I was full, they brought out the chocolate fudge cake. Oh man, it was the best slice I ever had.
I recently sang at a swanky mountain golf club/development up north of Traveller's Rest. It's called Cliffs Valley, because (wait for it) it's in a valley. There's another Cliffs development nearby that's on top of the mountain, but this is for the poorer rich folks who can only afford a valley. They mostly play golf all day. Not my bag.
The first thing I saw when I got there was this gorgeous gingerbread house. Every part of that is edible. (I hope they don't miss the part I ate. Can you tell from this picture which one that was?)
Okay, good. Just kidding. That thing is probably worth more than my actual real non-candy house and probably built better, too. Here's the outside of the clubhouse:
You can see a few houses on the hills there.
It's one of those places that you want to come back to. Take the gigantic men's bathroom for example. Those tissues there, for instance, are made from recycled $100 bills.
Here's me in my chorus getup. I've only worn that tuxedo like twice in the last 7 years. It barely fits and it's the only double breasted jacket in the entire chorus, but I don't care. I'm not buying a new one while I have one that works fine!
The crowd was a polite bunch, mostly in their fifties, sipping on wine and enjoying the music from us commoners (one of our group actually lives there). The women all jumped straight out of a Coldwater Creek catalog. The only kids present were the staffmembers. They wouldn't even let us eat the food. It was froo-froo stuff, so I'm not terribly upset. I'll go to Dunkin' instead and get a coolata and sour cream donut. mmmmmmmmmmmm The coolata is tempting, but don't do it. You can take more than one sip per half hour to a severe brain freeze probability. The donut, you can eat as fast as you want. FACT:* The faster you eat it, the less goes to your hips.
*not really
Erin and I went to "The Bee" in honor of our friend Dennis. He likes to wait tables on weekends and the food sounded yummy, so we went. He works at the one out in Greenville. We didn't go to that one. I see him enough already.
I was really impressed with the trio platter. I added fries, but who wouldn't? The hot chicken (barely spicy) shrimp, mini cheeseburgers, fries were all excellent. We have a gift card now, so we're going back tonight.
One of the reasons I have been so busy lately is that I'm working on a big project at the city, where we're converting all of the users and computers to a Windows domain and Microsoft Outlook. Screw Novell Groupwise (Poopwise). The first few weeks were rocky, due to 20 hour days and some other issues, but we are back on track, and I am on a team dedicated to the project alone. I'm even working a later shift, so I can sleep in and still not get my excercise. (but skip a lunch and dinner break) We sit at each computer and do 1-2 hours worth of work. Sometimes I get lucky and can do two from one seat or convert them on my computer via remote desktop.
On one extremely late night of work, Dennis and I went to Steak 'n Shake. Just for your information, this is what a steakburger platter and malt look like when it's 2:00 in the morning and you're the only customer in the restaurant. Ever hear the commercial? "Steak 'n Shake tsssssssssss Famous for steakburgers, but evidently not in South Carolina, since there's literally only one in the entire state."
Hope you enjoyed our adventure. Next time, I will probably have some pictures of Christmas and our trip up to Peoria. If you didn't know we were coming, consider this your warning. Oh, and another warning: If you're going to go see The Day the Earth Stood Still, wait and watch it on DVD. It's not bad, just not worth the $10 ticket. You're welcome.
