So - we're back home, and up bright and early for work on Tuesday. We've got to pack and prepare for our winter vacation in Mexico, but first, we're hosting the family Christmas at our place Friday night.
Not wanting to have any leftovers sitting in the fridge while we're away, I decided to completely cop out of the whole "cooking" thing, and decided to let M&M Meat Shops handle that task. One quick stop on the way home from work, and we were ready to serve hor d'euvres all avernoon/evening long. We had breaded mushroom caps, pineapple-chicken skewers, sausage rolls, meat balls, chips n' dip, shrimp rings, bacon wrapped scallops, and best of all, oven roasted stuffed turkey breast. Beer, wine and eggnog flowed freely, and 11 of our closest family members had a nice evening enjoying the holidays together.
That night, after we had bid all of our guests farewell, it was a mad dash to clean the house and ensure that everything was packed and ready to go for the trip... well ... it was a mad dash for Carole... I'm pretty sure I just stayed out of her way and played video games. Trust me, it's better off that way.
My parents stayed over night with us on Christmas eve, which we spent watching Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and the Va-Poo-riser in "Envy" - then the four of us were up EARLY (and I do mean EARLY!) Christmas morning to head off to the airport. Puerto Vallarta here we come!
On December 15th, Carole and I left on an unplanned trip to Philadelphia, Pensylvania. A few days earlier Carole's maternal grandfather had passed away at the age of 88, and we were heading to the funeral and services.
We had a brief stop over in Las Vegas on the way down, and I couldn't resist putting a couple bucks into one of the airport slot machines. Fortunately, that $2 turned into $47.25 in just a few pulls, so pretty much all of our trip's meal expenses were paid for courtessy of the state of Nevada.
We were picked up at the Philidelphia airport around midnight by Carole's aunt Margo, who was not only kind enough to give us a lift, but let us stay at their home for the four nights we'd be in town. It was zero (er, 32F?) degrees when we landed and the snowstorm that had caused our slight delay in Vegas was just starting to turn to rain. There was still about 6 inches of snow on the ground, but by the next morning it was mostly washed away.
On Friday we met up with the rest of the family at Carole's grandmother's home, and met up with many other relatives that were ariving from all over the globe. Carole's mom and Brian had been in Cabo San Lucas, and flew straight from Mexico. Other family came from Colorado, Montana, Phoenix, New Jersey, and we were even expecting an arival from Bologna Italy, but due to a missed connection in Frankfurt Germany, she didn't make it into town until the next evening.
The next morning we all assembled at the funeral parlour for the viewing. Many more relatives were in attendance, and I met so much of Carole's wonderful extended family - it was unfortunate that it had to be under such circumstances.
Carole's grandmother had requested that I be one of the pall bearers, along with the other grandsons. When the viewing concluded, we set the hearse on it's way to the church, and followed in the long procession. I guess the traffic laws are slightly different there, as the funeral director gave each vehicle a 'funeral' flag, and said that traffic lights don't apply for processions - if the hearse goes through a light, everyone should follow - so more that a mile's length of cars slowly wound their way through the brisk, yet clear and sunny Pensylvania countryside to the church.
After mass and the funeral service had completed, the procession once again slowly, peacefully wound it's way through the countryside to the cemetary for a full military burial. As Carole's grandfather was an Air Force Colonel during WWII, there was a Seargent at arms to play taps on his bugle, and two corporals to fold and present the flag. I must say, as a foreign observer, I still found this to be one of the most emotionally stirring services I've ever attended.
When the visibly shaken corporal who presented Carole's grandmother with the flag choked on the words "On behalf of the President of the United States, the Department of the Air Force, and a grateful nation, we offer this flag for the faithful and dedicated service of Lt. Colonel Ralph Palaia. Thank you." there were a lot more teary eyes than just his. And the Seargent who played taps did so so beautifully , stirring up such strong simultanious emotions of pride, sorrow, and joy, that even the most stalwart of attendees founs themselves a little misty eyed.
Later, everyone ajourned to Carole's grandmother's retirement community where food and drinks were served. In a more relaxed setting, we conversed with relatives we hadn't seen in ages, and had a really nice evening. Sprits were actually quite high, and being the holiday season, with decorations adorning the grande rooms, the mood almost seemed festive. It was a very nice evening spent with family.
The next day about 14 of us went out for a nice Italian lunch, then spent the evening at Shanondell again (the retirement community) where we played billiards, shuffle board, and even found the card room where we started up a couple poker tables. Just spendign time with relatives and catching up was really nice.
The next day, we were off bright and early - like three AM early - and after a brief stop over in the frigid and snow sweapt Salt Lake City, we were home Monday evening, returning to work on Tuesday... which only gave us three days before flying out to our winter vacation in Puerto Vallarta.
Well, twelve days to go. Has anyone started their shopping yet? I should get to that soon, eh?
This past weekend was quite a doozy. I could probably write four or five big blog entries about it, but I'm just too dang busy - so I won't. :-)
It had snowed every day for almost a week, and at one point we were up to about 7 or 8 inches on the ground where we live, although down in the city it was barely even sticking. But then it didn't snow at all for a week, and the fog rolled back in. Now, our neighbourhood is the only one in the lower mainland where snow is still evident - on our rooves, piled in our diveways, and in patches on our lawns. I guess it's just been a little colder up here (staying between 1 and 4 degrees) and the snow has not been so fast to melt. As of today though, we're supposed to be getting lots more sun in the forcast, for the next week or so.
Anyway, about this weekend!
Friday night was my work Christmas party. It was held at the Commodore (which is becoming our second home anyway), so we were comfy there. The food was awesome, the drinks were strong, and the band was, well, um, well, they were a cover band made up of senior management - and while they were talented enough, there's really only so much 'I love pina coladas' and 'New Orleans is Sinking' that Carole and I can take - but that's fine, 'cause we had a backup plan!
We booked a room at the Hotel Vancouver, and used it as our home base for the night. We had checked in at 5PM, had some dinner and a few drinks there before heading to the Commodore at 7PM, and then headed back to the room at about 10:45 - even though the band hadn't even finished their first set. We quickly changed into our rocker clothes and headed out to the Brickyard for 'Stronger Than All' - one of our friend's bands, that was doing a Pantera tribute show on the 1st anniversary of DimeBag's untimely demise. The place was PACKED - in fact, it was sold out. Colin (our friend in the band) tried to get us in, but the doorman was being a hardass - he was even telling people that had already paid, had stamps/tickets, and were just outside for a smoke, to get to the back of the line! Fortunately though, at about 11:30 we finally made it to the front of the line, and got in - just as the band hit the stage, so it was perfect timing.
Since we had accomodations nearby, and for the first time in recent memory I didn't have to drive anywhere, I drank, and drank and drank. Including the three beers at the hotel room and the 7 rye and gingers from the staff party, I was just polishing off my 16th drink of the night when last-call came. Just enough time for one more ... PAR-TAY!
The band was awesome - the songs were so tight, and there were so many special guest guitarists from all sorts of prominant local bands, Dimebag would have been proud for sure. We were invited to the band's after party, but by 2AM, they were still packing up the gear and socializing, so we decided to hunt down an all night pizza place then make our way back to the hotel. We sat on the steps of the art gallery at 2:30AM eating buck-a-slice pizza and listening to a lone violinist "playing for no one" in secluded desolation- it was a pretty surreal moment.
The next morning we had breakfast at Denny's, checked out, and made our way home. Saturday was a pretty lazy day of vegging out, relaxing and watching movies. Well, I went out and got a haircut, but that was the extent of my productivity.
Sunday morning we awoke at 8AM to the sound of the phone ringing. We both knew exactly who it would be, and why. Carole's maternal grandfather had taken ill some weeks ago, and early Sunday morning, PopPop passed away. As Carole was the prime contact for all of the Canadian relatives, the rest of Sunday was largely spent contacting everyone to let them know, and aranging our trip to Philadelphia to attend the services. We will be leaving for Pensylvania the day after tomorrow.
I had booked Monday as a day off - with a purpose, so while Carole went to work, I stayed home and played online poker ALL day. Probably not the best use of time during this hectic shopping season, but it was something I'd been planning on doing for some time, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. I had entered a tournament with 6,000 players and actually came in 286th - I actually had a great chip stack (about 30th over all in stack size) - and I bet large when I was dealt pocket kings. Only one caller - perfect! The rainbow flop brings five-eight-king ... I made my trips! Perfect! I go all in. Doubling up will launch me into the final table, guarenteed! What's this? My single opponent CALLS my all in? Ohhh... he's got me covered by a couple thousands chips too... we turn over our cards - Ha!!! All he has is a suited six-seven against my trips, no flush draw, no pair... oh, wait... he's actually got an open ended straight draw 5-6-7-8 ... a four or a nine will beat me... crap!!! Guess what comes out on the turn, despite my 4:1 odds to take down this pot? Yup, it's a nine. That's okay, there are plenty of cards that can save me now... if the last king comes out, I've got four of a kind. Any other 5,6,7,8, or 9 will give me a full house - that's a total of 16 cards in the deck that will win me this pot. That's almost 50/50 odds, I couldn't ask for much better ... alas, it was not to be - and after outlasting over 5700 other entrants, I'm out in 286th. The lamest part is that the top 270 positions get paid... I'm out, and don't win a penny. Argh!
Oh well, I learned a valuable lesson - two actually - 1.) always be weary of the double-belly-buster straight draw (I miss them every time!) and 2.) Never call an all-in when you're on the bubble - even if you've got 3 kings. Going out after all that work just ain't worth it.