It's Blogolicious!

I know it's been a looooong time since I've blogged...but I'm going to make it up to y'all. There has been so much going on that I am about to present a supersized version of Lost in Greenville. 

The first thing I wanted to show you was something I found in the bathroom at work. If you enlarge the following photo, you'll see a warning about a very serious issue facing American workers today: PTBI (Paper Towel Brain Injury). 

Erin and I decided to try a new Chinese restaurant in Simpsonville.

The best part of our meal was the order of crab rangoons. 

The chicken that I got was not very good. The worst part was the sogginess, followed by the lack of actual chicken. (It wasn't cat, or anything, just breading). Verdict: we definitely won't be returning; there are several other good restaurants which are much closer to home!

Erin and I went to downtown Greenville with a few other couples for dinner and coffee. After dining at Trio Grill, we went over to Coffee Underground. That was the first time I had been there. 

The menu was massive! I thought it was just a coffee shop, but they feature a full dinner, dessert, and drink menu. 

There are two large dining rooms; the atmosphere is quiet and gently lit. 

I decided to try a brownie sundae. It was really good!

For our last week at City Hall, ATS was given a nice lunch banquet for our service over the last two years. We were all recognized personally, which was nice. 

Lunch was catered, it was excellent! Baked rosemary chicken, I think it was. 

Erin and I met up with a few of our friends for a couple games of bowling. It had been a few years since I last bowled, so I was excited to try out my bowling arm. 

I was hesitant to go at first, because I assumed the bowling alley was going to be dirty and smelly like I remember. I was impressed when I saw how nice it was!

Who wouldn't want a pair of these babies?

It's all fancy schmancy. Stupid Me asked for the bumpers to be taken down. 

After work on the last day at City of Greenville, our IT Services manager flew down from Chicago and took us out to the nicest restaurant that I've ever been to: Rio Grille. 

Rio is a high end Brazillian Barbeque restaurant. The feature a selection of 10 different meats, brought to your table in a endless parade. 

Since I was one of the first to arrive, I decided to sit down and have a drink. 

I don't have a beer very often. It hit the spot!

My first plate came from the salad bar. I could've stopped there

At first, you try each meat that comes along: filet mignon, ribs, prime rib, bacon wrapped bacon...There comes a point where you can't keep up and have to turn down meats. That is sad. 

Their desserts were works of art. 

My birthday came along and my loving wife celebrated by drawing on my mirror. 

...and my shower...and my car. Two out of three have by now been cleaned...can you guess which?

We celebrated not with a cake, but with a Mocha Freeze. Make a wish! 

Erin bought me some Honey Buns. It was tough work, but I ate them all. 

Erin and I have been cooking up some good vegan meals. This was a Reuben sandwich with a white bean & roasted garlic soup. Not too bad for being healthy.

I was at the dentist's office last week for a filling. The doctor recommended I try a new procedure called a CEREC Onlay in lieu of a filling. This is like a partial crown, which is made before your eyes. The dentist removed a large portion of my molar and then replaced it with a CAD-drawn crown, which was milled right in the hallway. Sure, it was more expensive than a normal filling, but it will last a lot longer. 

In other news, to celebrate our anniversary, we bought tickets to see Kathy Griffin at the Peace Center in Greenville. 

I wasn't brave enough to snap pictures during the show (that's not allowed!!!) so I grabbed one of the Peace Center stage. We had good seats, in the front row of the balcony. How exciting! It was a great show; exactly what you'd expect. It's my guilty pleasure of funny celebrity gossip. She even made fun of Greenville; how thoughtful!

We went back to Moretti's in Mauldin. You may remember the last time we went, you got to see Erin's fabulous vegan wonderland pizza. This time, I tried their fish sandwich. Verdict: Best fish sandwich I've ever had. Now, I will start sampling their toasted sandwiches. This may become Erin and my favorite restaurants!

I received a subscription to Netflix for my birthday and we are loving it! We've already watched several movies instantly on our HTPC and have received several through the mail. We were growing tired of the awful customer service or high prices at the local rental stores. ($5 rental?!) I highly recommend it!

My friend Eric has a lot of cats at home, and they're all hidden. It's like a fun picture search....find the hidden cats! I found this one sleeping in the window. I typically do not enjoy cats, but how can you not love that!?

I was able to upgrade my camera and get something more advanced than my old Nikon coolpix. Back when people used film in cameras (film...you know, film....) I was heavily into photography, so it was a treat to start taking good pictures again! This particular camera, a Sony DSC-HX1, takes hi def video and has a 20x power zoom. Woohoo!

Here's one of the first pictures that I took. Not too shabby! I've been experimenting in the back yard to learn the best tricks for this camera. Erin thinks I'm crazy. There's a method to this madness!

October has been a beautiful month! The weather has settled into a very comfortable fall and my weekends have been free. I've been working hard on my quartet, practicing for ALLIANCE, and enjoying my new job. I haven't been able to ride my motorcycle much lately, but I look forward to seeing the fall colors up in the foothills! I'll be sure to post some pictures!

When it rains, it.....keeps raining every day. Bleh.

Well, it's that time of year! Fall is when the family comes out to visit and cloudy, rainy days seem to go on for weeks. Now, I'm not complaining, but I was a little disappointed in the weather situation for my parents' visit from Peoria. I mean, they're used to that kind of weather and I wanted to give them a break (It's been nicer up there this summer than it has down here, so I guess they get the last laugh...)

One of the things I wanted to do most for their visit was to go to the BMW plant in Spartanburg since I've never had the opportunity.

Here is the front entrance to the Zentrum.

The back of the building. (Looks like a big crescent roll to me!)

From the front.

Flying the flags.

My lovely wife relaxing by the pool..er..fountain.

I want one for my front yard!

Inside the museum.

These were our favorites! I call them the Steve Urkel cars.

Here are the folks, enjoying themselves! (I think)

Another couple having a good time.

A closeup!

Motorocycles! Now, we're talking.

Wouldn't this be fun to ride across the continent?

Wouldn't this be fun to ride down the street? (In the dark)

Taking my parents to Waffle House for the first time.

Mmmm, a nice steak sandwich and hash browns for breakfast. They'rrrrrrrrrre Grrrrrreasy!

Had to show the folks Whole Foods, the creme de la creme of grocery stores.

My happy wife picking up some organic thingies.

I tried to add some culture into my parent's life by treating them to tickets to the free County Art Museum. Okay, I treated them to a ride...

We'd been there before, but all of the exhibits had changed. Man, those artists were nuts...*whistles*

A visit to Falls Park at dusk.

Sam did the same thing he always does: beg for food, sleep, and wait for affection. Kinda like men.

Went to Moe's, of course. What is a trip to my house without a Joey Combo and hot sauce?!

That's a happy Josh on the left.

And even happier when he got an early birthday gift: an iPhone speaker dock. I can finally jam out to Black Eyed Peas in the shower. Or fall asleep to some soft sounds. Ahhh. 

Dad took me to Northern Tools for the first time. Better than Harbor Freight, IMHO.

Dad and I tried out some cool doo-rags. See, that's me being, nay, trying to be all badass.

We rounded out the evening with a trip to Liquid Highway, where I made them try Frozen Mochas. Yum.

Thought I'd update you on the hotel constructioon next to City Hall. It's really coming along.

Alot of brick and windows are finally up. Still another year to go on construction.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I found a brand new pair of shorts on eBay, identical to my favorite shorts I've had for 5 or 6 years. You can't find shorts like these anywhere!!

I've ben experimenting with a new iPhone app called Colorsplash. It allows you to add color to specific areas of a picture. Here's my first attempt: 

Erin took me to a new favorite pizza place of hers: Moretti's in Mauldin.

Any place that has Malt Vinegar is A+ in my books. I'll have to try their fish next time.

The restaurant is small, but wasn't full.

Free bread...pretty yummy.

Cheesy garlic break...very very cheesy.

 I split a pizza with myself. The pepperoni was the best half. Sorry, Sausage.

The verdict? Excellent, we'll definitely be going back. They had a lot of different foods, like fish, wings, sandwiches, etc. After dinner, we went up the street to Downtown Coffee.

I sampled their cookies and frozen mocha. The drink was pretty good, but the atmosphere was very nice. They have full size leather sofas, tv, tables, you name it. It's a nice place to come and sit down and relax.

We had a wonderful time with my parents, and the weather has finally changed back to normal. We've had the windows open for the first time since April and it feels great! This is my last week working in Greenville, and from next Tuesday on, I'll be reporting to my next job full time. I'll miss  the people at the city, but not the craziness. I like to be laid back, so my next job is a nice switch. Hopefully, a position more suited to my experience will come along soon, but for now, I am grateful to have a job.  October is going to be a busy month, but I'm looking forward to the cooler weather. Thanks for waiting patiently for this post and I hope you enjoyed the pictures! More to come!