Sure Beats Work » christmas

Some Random Holiday Photos

m@ — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 16:11:01 +0000

Here are some photos from the holidays this year.

There was beer pong.

There was also flip cup.

The losers got spankings.

The crappy gift exchange brought out 20 lbs. of taco sauce.

It also brought out a lot of light sabers.

There was time with the cousins.

We even threw a Hannah Montana themed party for a very special person.

And there she is.

I saw UCLA lose to Washington. Got a great program with good years ahead.

I learned that nuns really like boba.

I don’t have any pictures from New Year’s Eve that don’t have someone looking a little drunk, passed out, or just raging. Those pictures will remain under wraps. I personally behaved this year, unlike some other years past.

Christmas Brownie Points

m@ — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 05:37:23 +0000

I come from a family that has a 4′ tall Christmas tree that we don’t decorate each year. Instead we cover it with a sheet and toss it in the back of a closet, so it’s ready for next year. Michelle was saying she was sad that we didn’t have any Christmas decorations up in our new apartment. So I did what any good husband would do and stole the Christmas tree from work.

It’s actually only a half tree that’s supposed to mount to the wall. Since we don’t have any way to mount to the wall, it’s sitting in front of our shoe closet. We will have to wear the same shoes until after Christmas.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to pee and not put the toilet seat back down. I can do no wrong.

Don’t cry for me. I’m already dead.

m@ — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:31:39 +0000

I was asked what my best gift this year was, and the answer was really simple. It was Love, a CD that Michelle’s parents got for me. It was actually my only gift.

Fortunately the one gift I did receive is awesome! It’s a mashup of The Beatles on The Beatles. The album takes you through the entire journey of The Beatles and their music. The music was also used in the Cirque du Soleil show.

It’s in my car right now. When I’m not listening to gangster rap, I prefer The Beatles.

Christmas is the time for giving (junk)

m@ — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:03:50 +0000

It has now become a tradition for our friends to get together for Christmas to share a meal together and do a gift exchange, but we also have a tradition that’s a little more fun. We throw in one more gift exchange, but we make them junk gifts. The only requirement for the gift is that it has to be something you don’t want. That makes it quite open ended and the creativity makes it quite fun.

This is not a junk gift. This was my contribution to the meal. A bacon-wrapped smoked pork loin. I know how to perfect it next time. More bacon.

Look who got the Internet Urinal!

This man is actually a doctor. Would you let him operate on you?

Someone brought a tape player with an actual tape and took the time to put in new batteries.

2009 calendar! Totally not junk. There’s still three more days to use it.

At least Michelle got rid of her disastrous snow globes.

Our friends made the announcement about their engagement. Here the girls are swarming to hear the story. The guys are debating whether to go the moon or Mars for the bachelor party.

Archery in Wii Resort. Such concentration!

She kept laughing and couldn’t hold still. If this were a real bow and arrow, she would have shot someone.

I’m glad to have the friends I do, many of them since junior high. I’m even more glad to know that we’re all still friends despite all the crappy gifts that got passed around and the laughs we share at each others expense.

Nothing says Christmas like stretchy pants.

m@ — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:52:54 +0000

Christmas was an all-out eating fest with family members are thrown into the mix.

Christmas Eve was kept quiet with my parents, my brother, and my sister-in-law. Red meat and plenty of green veggies.

No one wants to cook Christmas day, so we rely on Chinese restaurants. Not bad at all.

I think my cousins figured out their next family Christmas card.

My aunt got Michelle a hand-painted apron. Her response was, “But I don’t know how to cook!” Looks like we have our Christmas card for next year too. My arm looks tremendous.

A family tradition of video games with proud grandpa in the background.

Christmas dinner with my dad’s side of the family. Still at the kids table.

All the women decided put together a gingerbread village after dinner.

Who said Michelle doesn’t know how to do crafts? What a mess!

Christmas spent relaxing by the fire.

The whole gingerbread village. A very merry Christmas indeed.

I know it’s a bit of a cop out to post mostly pictures for a post, but I’ve got to do something to hook the readers. It’s just like this whole new 3D trend in theaters. You can’t get my pictures elsewhere. Next up, pictures of the After Christmas Party.

How my family does Christmas…

m@ — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:02:35 +0000

It’s Christmas morning. Our lights only went up less than a week ago. We have an artificial Christmas tree that never gets undecorated. It gets covered with a sheet and put away in a closet for the next year. That has only been up a couple of days, but it has never been plugged in once. There isn’t a single present in this house right now. This is how my family sees Christmas. No big deal.

It’s just enough to let you all know, we’re not Jewish. Merry Happy, everyone!

Christmas Fail

m@ — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:13:55 +0000

This was the cake we got for our company Christmas party. Should I have rolled my R’s over the phone when I ordered it?

Another Delicious Weekend

m@ — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:51:24 +0000

I went three for three on going out for this past weekend. That is pretty good for me. Normally one of my days is reserved for nothing. Nothing is important after getting my ass kicked all week.

Friday I got to have dinner with Michelle and my Cousin Trevor. He picked Sake House Miro on Miracle Mile for us to meet up. The sushi was pretty good. Also the Butter Fish isn’t shown here, but it is awesome. They must get fish to adapt to swim and live in vats of butter.

This is no optical illusion. The beer is the size of Michelle’s head.

There are lots of other things on the menu, which don’t seem to fit. I ordered the Garlic and Naan Pizza because it seemed so out of place on the menu. It was actually pretty good.

Saturday was a Christmas party for Michelle and her dorm friends. It’s hard to tell from this picture, but it was a pajama party.

This is one of my weaknesses. I always forget what these are called, but they are awesome.

Some of the people had too much fun and took the theme a little too seriously.

Sunday I had the pleasure of joining a bunch of food loving Internet nerds (and I mean that in the best way possible) for a meal at Shu Feng Yuan in San Gabriel. I am by no means a foodie, but I do love food, just not in the same way that these people do. I have a much simpler understanding of food, but I’d like to think my enjoyment of the food is as great even if my ability to describe it is not up to par.

I have no idea which dish is which, but you have lamb, brazed pork, various noodles, sea cucumber, chicken soup, kidney, intestines, pork blood, pig ears, frog legs, and diced rabbit. Can you guess which dish is the least spicy? It’s the least red one. I enjoyed this meal thoroughly and enjoyed the company just as much.

I saw Avatar this weekend. Stay tuned for that.

No Gift Receipt?

m@ — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:22:27 +0000

When it comes to gift giving, I am terrible. I might try to defend myself with arguments that I’m just creative. Nope. I am just bad at giving presents. After this year, I’m officially known at work at among my friends as a bad gift giver. People can’t tell the difference between my purposefully crappy gifts and the ones that are supposed to be good.

What you say: “I want this. You can get it here at this store. Please get this for me.”
What I hear: “Get me something strange and unusual that no one could possibly use.”

Perhaps I should stop doing all my holiday shopping at ThinkGeek.com. I just can’t help myself. Some of the most useless, fun stuff exists here. Who wouldn’t want a bar of caffeinated soap or a DIY Dinosaur Light?

So save yourself the disappointment. Just ask for cash.

Christmas Party, Done with One.

m@ — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:30:05 +0000

The first of the Christmas parties is now over with, and man was it fun, not to mention delicious. Everyone brought something good to eat, and the spread was magnificent. Rather than waste your time with my poor ability to describe things, you can see for yourself.

It really is too bad that no one has written a Firefox extension to allow for smell to travel through the Internet, because this meal was fantastic. Sadly, missing in action from the pictures is the pasta with freshly made sauce, lasagna, curry chicken, roasted asparagus, fried wontons, and bacon-wrapped scallops.

We had three white elephant gift exchanges, one good gift exchange and two crappy-gift exchanges. Not to be confused with gift exchanges that go crappy, the other two were purposely done with crappy gifts. The expressions on people’s face when they receive the bad gifts is just so much fun. Some of the gems were VHS movies, a computer game about parental care, and a giant but empty bottle of Crown Royal. I’m particularly proud of my contribution to the crappy gift pile, a mineral oil enema.

Things could not have been much better for our holiday party, but I have a question.

Why do

people always

leave one

serving in

the dish?

Party number two is up this afternoon. Bring on the crappy gifts!