Oh What a Lovely Tofurkey Day

So yesterday was Thanksgiving. I have quite a bit to be thankful for this year. Life has been pretty good lately. I have the most amazing family and friends, I have been staying busy and getting ahead on the things that are important to me right now in life. Overall things are good.

Now I didn't head home for thanksgiving this year. I am working today (Friday) at both T. Rowe and Apple, so doing the drive just wouldn't make that much sense. Instead I spent the day at home slept in and cooked myself dinner.

I am still in my month of no meat, so I tried to make a tofu turkey. This was an experience to say the least. I tried to make this dish by hand. Lets just say that the sides were really good. There were some pieces of the lump bird that were quite tasty, but overall I am going to call it a culinary failure. I hear that twink's store bought tofurkey loaf was pretty good. I think we are having leftovers on Monday. YAY. The sides actually were really good, but I thin that next year I may go with Turducken as opposed to Tofurkey.

Overall, the day at home with Onyx (Ben's Cat) was quite relaxing, which is good cause i am going to need it. today was PT, then work, then work again, home around 12:30.

Peace Out

An Interesting Weekend

My friend Andy is getting married next month and this past weekend was his bachelor party. Chad, who is Andy's best man got a limo and made reservations at Delilah's, which is considered one of the best strip clubs in Philly. Here is the thing... I have never been to a strip club. Seriously. Not once. I was pretty nervous going in. I guess I was outwardly displaying my nervousness. I thought I was being cool, but I guess not.

Within the first 20 minutes or so I had someone come over and sit on my lap... this turns out to be a rather normal occurrence. This was the point where the people who I was with figured out that I had never been to such an establishment before. I guess they could tell that it made me really nervous. A few minutes later another, extremely attractive girl comes over to sit on my lap (no one else had been "proposed" to at this point). My friends decided they were going to pay for a dance for me. It was still very strange, but the girl did a really good job of making me feel comfortable and actually talking to me. We actually talked for a while, which I know is not at all the norm, but it was still pretty cool... OMG

I'm in love with a stripper

Okay, not really, but it was a good time and she was super nice. (oh, and she is from Ohio and studying to be a dental hygienist, yeah I am the guy who knows that). If you are ever in Philly and looking for a club, go to Delilah's. I am still not really into the whole scene, but it was a cool experience.

The rest of the night was exactly what you would expect. We had a good time and Chad got CRAZY DRUNK. To illustrate this lets talk about when we got back from the club. We all piled into Andy's place and then we realized that Chad was not in the apartment with us. We went outside and started looking for him. It was dark, and while Chad is not particularly stealthy, he is not easy to find in a very large apartment complex with all sorts of wooded areas and shadowy places. After driving around we circled back towards the apartment, Andy happened to go walk the dog out the back steps and found Chad, passed out on the landing a mere 7 steps from the door... DRUNK. If anyone who is in reality TV production is reading this, get a camera and follow Chad... you will have a hit on your hands.

Ok, more to talk about in later posts.

Home Again, Home Again

I headed back to the greatest city in the world this weekend. I am headed to my friends Bacholer party later tonight. It should be ab interesting night. Depending on what happens I will give you a recap soon.

I did want to mention that I became official this past week in a couple of ways. I turned Twenty One.... ok, not really, but it was worth a shot. I did become an official resident of Maryland. I went to the MVA on Wednesday morning. I was actually quite surprised by the service. I had heard nothing but horror stories about this place, but it really wasn't bad at all. There was however the woman who clearly had Tuberculosis and was coughing all over the public phone behind me. Seriously, she shouldn't even be living, let alone driving. Why did she need to be there, at the MVA, spreading her death cough. It took me about two hours to get everything done (license and tags) and probably would have been quicker if I had done them in the opposite order than what I did. If you need to move to Maryland, get your license and then your tags.

The second way I became official is that I got my first check from Apple Inc. YAY... I work at Apple. So Cool. There really isn't more I can say than that, but YAY.

Today is All Wet

So I started out my morning pretty normally. Up early to head to PT. I get out of my house, having locked the door behind me and then it happens... I realize that I just locked myself out of the house (aka I left my keys in the house). I had to call my roommate and ask him to let me in. Ben is a super trooper, particularly since I had to call him at 7am to let me back in. Thanks again Ben.

I then went to therapy, which was great. I have made alot of progress with my leg, even though my bruise is wicked sweet. I am not going to need to go for very long, which is good, cause I did not put enough money in my HSA to cover all of this. I will be greatly increasing my contribution for next year.

Then came my favorite part of the morning. I was walking into work, as I normally do, and I began to feel something in my foot. This did not immediately strike me as something strange, due to everything going on in my leg I figured it was a strange side effect of my crazy bruise. I then began to think about this a little longer and realized I was feeling water in my shoe. Again, this did not strike me as all that strange. It was raining so I figured that I had gotten some water in my shoe, just from general walking, as happens every so often. Then it hit me. The moisture that I was feeling in my shoe was coming from the bottom and middle of my foot.... OMG... I HAVE A HOLE IN MY SHOE. Seriously. I have had these shoes for a couple of years, but still. A freaking hole in my shoe. So I am kinda pissed, I like these shoes.

I guess, tonight I will grab a new pair of shoes tonight before work at the store. Stupid water.

A Good Weekend and a Busy Week Ahead

I had a blast this weekend. It has been quite a while since I had a really great weekend (not including Erin and Kyle's Wedding. Of course there are some things that I probably should not have done, but no skin off my back. Between going out with Mark, Julia and others on Friday, to Sushi on Saturday, to the Social that night, it was a good time. I hope that my weekends continue to be this good over the next few months. Actually, I hope they continue for ever, but i'll take what I can get.

As for the update that I am sure you are all waiting with baited breath for... Here is a couple new pictures of my leg.

Notice the lovely colors and strong contrast between elements. The purples and blues are quite astonishing.

It is actually getting better. It feels better at least. I can get pretty tight during the day, but it feels stronger. The hardest part is flexing my leg, but I guess that is why I am going to therapy.

Well, it is going to be a busy week. My role at the day job will be shifting a little and I will be putting in 18 hours this week at the A. Store (between now and Thursday). This weekend is Andy's Bachelor party, so I am sure that will be interesting as well.

Until the next post, Peace Out

Day of Firsts and Seconds.... and Millionthes

Hello my fine friends,

Today has been quite a day for me. First, the First. I had my first Physical Therapy session this morning. You know you did something bad to your leg when one of the PTs comes in and says "Nice Bruise". This being my second go round with therapy in about a year I have come to really appreciate good therapists. The guy this morning, Samir, seems excellent so far. I don't expect to be going very long, but it is nice to know that I am going to someone whom I trust and is nice. Here's to quick recoveries.

Second, the second. Tonight is my second night at the Apple. It has been a blast so far and I know it will continue. I have not gotten my name tag or shirt yet, but that is coming soon. I cannot wait until I get on the floor. Fun Times.

After work I am headed to Geckos, the greatest little Tex-Mex place this side of the boarder fence. Mark, head of the C-YA committee invited me to a shindig for a friend of his there tonight. In a interesting twist, I heard my name last night at the store and swung around, only to see that the person who I am going out to celebrate tonight. Turns out we are co-workers. It is a small, sleekly designed, Apple based world.

Can't Break My Stride, Can't Hold Me Down

Yesterday the Doctor told me I had quite a bruise on my hammy. I didn't think I had one, I mean I had not been hit by anything. He said it was 6cm wide by 8cm tall..... WHAT????

Last night I finally got to looking at the back of my leg... it was not a pretty sight.

(look at them sexy legs)

Mind you ... I WAS NOT HIT BY ANYTHING. I bruised from the inside...

Here is the good news. The Ortho this morning said I will need physical therapy, but not surgery. This is a load off my mind, but still, I cannot believe all this happened from kickball. So a couple of weeks of PT will fill my schedule right back up. Oh well, so is life.

Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing

So I had my Doctors appointment at 7am this morning. I was really surprised by this doctor and will be praising his name. Dr. Laurence Gallagher... you are a good man. He was super nice and explained what was going on with my leg.

Unfortunately the news was not that good. I definitely ruptured (tore) a muscle in my hamstring. I will be headed to a specialist tomorrow morning at 8:15am (seriously, am I really old enough to have appointments BEFORE I go to work??). Turns out I have a bruise on the back of my leg that I never saw, which is an issues big men have when they live without large mirrors. It is 6cm wider and 8cm tall. There is also a concave depression in that part of the leg when compared to the the right leg. Basically this means that bad things have happened.

If I need to have surgery I will probably be heading to North Carolina so I can have it in my Aunt's hospital. I Heart Her. She is going to help me with the costs, and while it is not the best excuse to head to the Carolina's I guess I will get some barbecue while I am there. Unless it is before Thanksgiving, then I will be looking for so nice BBQed Veggies and Tofu.

I Can't Believe It... I Earned a Buck

Or a dollar as my mom would say.

I checked tonight and I have earned $1.03 from ads running on this blog. How cool is that? I get to cross this off my list. This is the actual accomplishment for me. I don't actually expect to see this money, but you never know.

Thanks to everyone who keeps reading the blog, even when I am not as consistent with my posting as I would like to be.

Don't forget to leave me fun comments.

One More Thing...

I got a second job...

I work at Apple. I am a Mac Specialist. I am a part of Apple. :-)

Yeah that is awesome. It is statistically more difficult to get a job at Apple than it is to get into Stanford University. That is pretty cool. I have really like what I have learned so far and I am in the store for the first time on Thursday and Friday this week. The people I have meet have been great and I can't wait to work with people and get them products that they will love.

Ok, enough about that.

Next Post

Marital Bliss at it's Best

So two weeks ago I jumped into the Brid (Hybrid that is) and headed to Canton, Ohio for the nuptials of Erin Hundley and Kyle T. Carter (the T is clearly obligatory). I was super excited for this event for many reasons. First and foremost I have never meet two more perfectly matched, awesome, people in my life. Second, it was a great excuse to see all of my UMBC co-workers. I miss these people so much, and they mean so much to me. It was really nice to get a chance to hang out and have a blast. Finally, the wedding was in Canton, Ohio... do you know what else is in Canton, Ohio? No, not the headquarters of Goodyear (that is in Akron, Ohio).

The Football Hall of Fame.

I got the chance to visit the Hall with Kyle and his friend Jay on Friday morning, but there will be a post about that later. This is Kyle and Erin's Time.

The wedding was great, and my UMBC peeps partied it up from Friday night until Sunday morning. This included a stop at a Brew-Thru. Turns out in Ohio you can drive you car into a building , ask the person who comes to the window for Beer, Cigarettes and Beef Jerky and they will bring it right to you. Even hand it to you through the window. It is kinda AMAZING.

As there were no fridges in the hotel room, we did run into a small problem of trying to keep the beer cold over the course of the weekend. My personal ingenuity and the availability of an ice machine and a sink made for the best, continuously chilled, Miller Lite, we have ever had.

Needless to say the ceremony and reception we a ton of fun, and very Kyle and Erin. There were lots of touching moments, but the whole idea was that they wanted to enjoy the night with the people they cared about. I really did like the bottles of wine as table cards and the table names as places that were important to them in their lives. I actually got pointed out by the Matron of Honor as "The Other Guy" during her toast.

So I don't yet have a ton of pictures from that night (my battery died) but I thought this one was a pretty good representation of how much fun we all had. If that is not one of the best looking groups of people, I don't know what is :-) (Sorry Kyle... Somehow we missed you in this picture)

Oh... So This Is What Posting To A Blog Is Like

Hello Friends....

After a personal hiatus we have lots to talk about, and I am going to try to knock out a couple posts tonight.

Lets talk about some of the not so exciting things happening in my life. I am once again truly single (Yay Me). If you would like details about this... well I am not sure I will be handing those out, but you never know.

Also not so exciting, I injured myself playing kickball last Wednesday. I know what you are thinking:

Ryan, five year old children are able to successfully play kickball

My answer to you:

They are not as Hardcore as I am

Seriously, I really did a number on my hamstring and I heard a "Pop". I see a doctor tomorrow (which lets me cross off number 70 on my list of things to do). I am really hoping that continues use of my ACE bandage and trying to keep it elevated is all I need. It has been pointed out to me that I should be walking around with a cane, so I can look badass... like House M.D.

Last bad thing going on is my Dad's health. He had a checkup and it looks like the cancer has made a return. While this scares me I am ready for it and ready to be there for Dad. I have not told him, but if chemo is the next step I am shaving my head. No one should loose all of there hair alone.

Enough of all this bad stuff. More posts tonight about good things... and there are good things... YAY good things.