2004 - Fat Tuesdays -I've probably never been more intoxicated that I am in this picture. Check out Kurt's beads.

2005 - Fat Tuesday's...again...Mafia Booth.

2006 - Moxie's

2007 - Family Dinner - We were living with his parents, just waiting for the green light to move to the Rock. It's hard to believe that was a whole year ago.

On Friday we're heading out for a sumptuous steak dinner at a local steak house. I'm having the fish. We may not be flanked with the usual suspects this year, but it will be great nonetheless.

Happy Birthday Kurt!

Love, me.

It's been a few months now since we sold our "car". We've seen it around (have I mentioned that this place is small?) and it's looking much better than before, but the thought of it and it's perpetually falling-apartness still haunts me. It got us to the airport and back a few times, so it wasn't a TOTAL bust. Just mostly a bust.

We were so excited once it was gone because we were going to make it with just a scooter. That was the plan. Get the biggest scooter possible (to accomodate as many grocery bags as possible) and do it island-style. What we failed to note during the conjuring up of this brilliant plan was the fact that the majority of our fellow islanders also own a car and that there is actually a reason for this. This reason is rain.

Oh, and total inconvenience. Together.

The first few months post car (P.C.) were great. However, it's gotten notably cooler lately and with that has come some very notable rainstorms, all of which seem to happen conveniently at 5:00 p.m., just as we're getting off work. This is not awesome. Waiting it out isn't always an option either, so we've been toughing it out for the past few weeks and have showed up at home looking like drowned rats a number of times now. It's a tad miserable, and "winter" hasn't even hit yet.

Last weekend, after spending a day and a half totally cooped up in the apartment because it was actually too wet to go anywhere on the bike, we realized that life on the island without a car isn't all it we hoped it would be. Sure, the $7.50 gas bills are awesome but trying to get home from the airport with luggage is not.

So...we're looking for a car. We have some criteria this time around:

1. It will not be a Ford. Especially not a Ford of the European variety.
2. It will not be a piece of crap.

I don't think that's too much to ask, really.

It arrived. Finally. Turns out that checking the "I AM EXPORTING THIS COMPUTER OUT OF THE UNITED STATES" box on the online order form means that I was subject to a little extra scrutiny on their end to determine whether or not I was, in fact, a terrorist. Turns out I'm not (yay!), and my computer made it to me on the Rock, all the way from Wilmington, Ohio, where it was born. It's pretty much exactly like the the one that died except that it's a Dell, it's red, and I've had it on my lap for about an hour and have not yet sustained a second-degree burn. Great success.

Of course, it would have been lovely to have brought home a shiny new Mac. However, the $3K it would have required to bring home the one I wanted just wasn't available to me right now. Or ever, really, because to spend $3K on a laptop that essentially functions solely as a TV is semi ridiculous. I wouldn't even have given it a second thought had we still been in Canada and able to buy things at regular people prices.

Anyways, I'm back in business.

I am loving October so far. The countdown is on to the American election and I, for one, am all over it. I LOVE American elections. This one is far more interesting than the last one, and I really can't wait to see what happens. I do know that Sarah Palin in an interview setting is like a trainwreck...so painful to watch, yet somehow I just can't look away. Personally, I think McCain handed Obama the throne by naming her on his ticket. I'm going to be glued to the TV come election night...it's a wild ride!