Once upon a time, when we were all young and carefree and had too much time on our hands, Mike used to play video games.  He played a LOT of video games- along with his brothers and the rest of their strange clan of nerdy friends, they would have parties where everybody would bring their computer- their DESKTOP computer, because laptops weren’t good enough to play the good games- and they would play these games (Halo, Alice, Starcraft, Counterstrike and lots of other games that I don’t have any recollection of) until the wee hours of the night, and sometimes until the morning, and they didn’t think this was strange or particularly nerdy or anything at all.

I was rarely present for these dorkfests- usually I used the time to go out with MY friends and do things that didn’t bore me to tears.  Sometimes though, I would be a good sport and hang out while the boys played.  I would read a book, or browse the internet, or wander around aimlessly looking for somebody who wasn’t playing a game who would talk to me.  One time (I think shortly after World of Warcraft came out) during a particularly epic session that was taking place at our house, I drank an entire bottle of wine out of boredom and sat in the middle of our living room (which was filled with 7 or 8 temporary desks) calling my best friend Mary to complain that nobody was talking to me.  I only remember this episode because, according to Mary, it was one of the saddest and most entertaining conversations of our entire friendship.

Now that we live in Seattle and Mike works entirely too much, the days of marathon video game sessions are a distant memory.  Well, they were until yesterday, when we got a new addition to our family- the iPad.

(At this point, I hope nobody is surprised that Mike got an iPad the first day it came out.  I mean, you’ve met him, right?  He might as well have “Early Adopter” tattooed on his forehead.)

The iPad has a bunch of theoretically awesome features- you can watch your Netflix OnDemand queue right on it and play Scrabble.  We even used the ABC instant streaming app to watch the iPad-themed episode of Modern Family on the iPad- talk about meta-awesomeness.  Or at least meta-novelty.

Anyway, as cool as those things are, what I think we all underestimated about the iPad’s appeal was the game-play factor- evidently this is the perfect platform for low-commitment, wonderfully amusing and epidsodic video games.  As a result, this is what the last 36 hours of my life have looked like:

Ben, who had no interest in an iPad until Mike talked him into it on Friday, is here and got one too.

As annoying as it can be, it does kind of make me feel young again.

Also, with the boys distracted, I had time to get a lot done today.  I got some writing done for an all-new secret project I’m working on (details coming soon).  I tasted a ridiculous number of cupcakes during a cupcake tasting that Barrie organized yesterday.  I then found out that I am way too old to eat a bunch of cupcakes and not become a total narcoleptic.  I had a massage to work a wicked knot out of my back (my self-diagnosis of piriformis or sciatica was incorrect- I just worked out too much last week).  I made a whole bunch of food for the next week, including a pretty decent pork and lamb ragu that took about 6 hours to make.  There was so much that I canned a jar for my friend Cristina, who just had surgery after falling off her bike and shattering her elbow.  She has to spend the next 6 weeks wearing a sling.  I know how that feels.

Injuries are bad.  Thankfully, friends, cupcakes, lazy days and moments of recaptured youth are good.

Mike has a product launch next Wednesday.  As a result, he has been working crazy hours- staying up until 4:00 am some days and waking up at 8.  It’s not pretty.

Of course, even a crazy workaholic has to find some time to do something other than work.  Mike’s favorite way to relieve stress is to cuddle up on the couch with the most important person in his life and ponder his relationship with said individual.

Oh, you thought I was referring to myself?  That’s cute.

In addition to being consumed by work currently, he is also deep in the clutches of a major OCD attack.  You know how manic depressives experience phases of wildly oscillating moods?  Mike doesn’t really ever get particularly manic, or depressed for that matter, but he does have his own special mental problem- sometimes, when he has to make a decision, even a completely hypothetical one, he finds himself at an impass and experiences total mental paralysis.

We’re in the midst of one of those phases right now.

And before you go and get worried, let me assure you that you shouldn’t.  We’re fine.  We aren’t in the middle of any crisis or even any major life decision.  There is no life-altering issue threatening to turn our lives upside-down.  We don’t even really have any REAL decisions coming up at all.

So what is Mike stressing about?

m3 vs gtr

Mike is trying to decide which of these two cars he likes better.

Are we currently looking at buying a car?  No.  Are we helping somebody else make a decision about these cars?  No.  Mike is simply trying to reconcile WHICH EFFING CAR HE LIKES BETTER THAN THE OTHER.

We’ve been through this before.  Every couple of months Mike gets so obsessed about some random detail of life that he totally shuts down.  Sometimes it’s something we are actually going to use, like when he had to decide whether to order a matte or glossy screen on his Macbook Pro.  Sometimes it’s totally random, like when he can’t decide whether he thinks a celebrity is attractive.  This is definitely more team Random, but it’s just as consuming as if it was actually important.

For example, on Friday night we went out for ramen at Samurai Noodle.  The ramen was fantastic- thick, porky, salty brothy goodness.

But I don’t think Mike really appreciated it, because he spent most of the meal doing this:

important internet research

Ugh.

So maybe if I post it here and some of you weigh in, Mike will actually be able to make a decision about which of these stupid cars he likes better.  Because I don’t really care.  I drive a Mini with a passenger door you can’t open from the inside.

Please comment, if only for the sake of my sanity.  Please help my severely OCD husband decide which car HE LIKES BETTER:

m3

gtr

Please.

That is all for now.

The start of many motorbike adventures to come officially begins – July 8th at 6AM. Me and my fellow journey men (An and Jaime) will be setting off on an adventure from Southern California to Seattle Washington in search of the best roads on left coast. The ride will take us through some of the most beautiful landmarks this side of California, Oregon and Washington including, the the depths of the Redwood forest, the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, the sand dunes of Pismo Beach and the scenic coast line of Oregon. It’s amazing how little we’ve seen of our own backyard.

We’ll be riding wonderful roads such as this.

I’ll be trying my best to document the trip for everyone to enjoy and will try to actively post live updates here and on our tumblr journal when I can. (Mostly to let Aubrey know we are alive and well). In the mean time you can see our tenative route and virtually make the drive using Google Maps.

Follow along with on our Tumblr journal
Live photo updates available on our Flickr channel

I’d also like to thank Jaime for making this ride a reality by lending a hand and solving my bike situation.  Though I won’t be joining the Ducati family of riders per my originl plan, a 2006 Yamaha FZ6 will make do. Not quite as sexy, but it’ll get the job done. Onwards we go!

Live, Love, Ride – Michael

I know I haven’t had a chance to put our wedding photos up since we moved, but this is a start! Happy Valentine’s day, with love from your sometimes forgetful, absent-minded husband. Love, Michael

Click Me!

Here’s something you haven’t seen in a while:

It’s me.  In the sun.  The glorious, glorious sun.

I spent last weekend with my dear friend and partner in crime Anne in San Diego at the biggest knitting trade show of the year, TNNA.  It was exhausting but glorious- I had to carry around a LOT of stuff, but most of it was free books, and I spent a lot of time in a classroom, but it was because I was taking some classes with some really amazing knitters.  Plus, it was sunny- god, I love sunny- and warm, and beautiful.  And I got to get some quality time in with some fabulous people.

I ate 3 meals in 3 days at Chocolat, which, I discovered, has the perfect combination of foods- they serve crepes, gelato, coffee, paninis and cheese.  Heaven.

The best thing on the menu was this turkey sandwhich.  I don’t like turkey sandwhiches, but I wanted to move to San Diego and marry this turkey sandwhich:

It came with a side of olives.  Every time I see olives, I picture my bestie Scott (his blog is coming soon) as a 7 year old eating a can of them by sticking them on each of his fingers and gulping them off.

Denise, me, Kristy and Anne (the Handicraft Cafe Entorogue) had delicious tapas at Sevilla:

(There was a picture of me where you could see my face, but it involved a full on nostril shot as well.)

We discovered just how Anne, who doesn’t ever sleep, manages to keep herself going all day and all night:

And every day looked like this:

Which is why I looked like this when I had to leave:

Obviously, there was a lot of knitting as well.  I got 7 inches done on a sweater, learned how to knit continental-styles, found out that I cast on upside-down, discovered the joy of wrapping yarn around my neck and hung out with Cat Bordhi and Chrissy Gardiner, and watched Anne’s celebrity status as a knitting designer grow and grow.  I’ll be updating the Handicraft Cafe blog with knitting nerdiness for those who are interested (as soon as Anne finishes making the photos of me a little less shiny and a little more tan!)

Today was one of those days, where everything just seemed to line up and life gives you a break. After raining cats and dogs for over a week with record flooding throughout the area; the clouds decided to take break, let the sun come out and dry up some tarmac.

It just so happens Ducati Seattle was having an open house event at 1:00PM to unveil the new 2009 Ducati Monster 1100S.  Free food, free test rides, and the opportunity to get out of the house and meet some new like-minded people? Count me in.

So I rushed down to the garage and start digging out all my old riding gear. Helmet? Check. Gloves? Check. Jacket? Check. Valid M1 license? Check. Aubrey out shopping? Check. I chucked everything into the Mini and off I went.

Today, I have to say was one of the most exciting days I’ve had in Seattle in a long time. Enough that I’m actually writing a blog post. I got to ride both the Ducati Hypermotard and the new Monster 1100S. It was like a life recharging event. My mind was trapped in the day to day mundane routines and was finally, for a short 30 minutes, I was set free. I know, I know it sounds cheesy, but it something I really can’t describe with words.

Here are some pictures from the Open House and with the demo bikes in front of our house.

To those in the know. Live. Love. Ride.

Ugh, this week has me so busy, I haven’t even had a chance to blog about my extremely busy but very mundane life.  I will get back to regular posting this weekend.

In the meantime, my last post seems to have caused some confusion.  Several people seem to be getting my beloved Slanket confused with this sad imposter, the Snuggie.

I’ve done my research.  The Slanket came first.  The Slanket is bigger.  The Slanket has a kid’s version.  The Slanket has a far more extensive range of colors.

Come on people, get your As-Seen-On-TV products straight.

It’s snowing again.  My car has a piece of plastic instead of a passenger window.  There is nothing good on TV.  So in order to cheer myself up, let me share with you my latest OBSESSION:

It’s a Slanket!  It lets you lay around like a slug, stay warm and still keep your arms free.  It’s designed to help you stay as lazy as humanly possible.  It is marketed by some of the most awesomely terrible infomercials I’ve ever seen.  If you get it in brown, you look like a monk.

Obviously, I’m in love.  Every time the informerical comes on I get kind of giddy.  Too bad I didn’t find out about this sooner or I would have put it on my birthday/xmas list for sure.  But in case anybody is thinking of what to get me for President’s Day- *hint, hint*.

Til then, I guess I’ll have to settle for my stupid ole’ blanket.  Which is so not as cool as a Slanket.

There isn’t much that is visually exciting to report here, and I know that without pictures, I tend to get a bit… wordy.  So instead of updating you about my fabulously mundane beginning of the week, I will share my latest obsession with you instead:

I discovered Justin Hillgrove’s Imps and Monsters series at the Urban Craft Uprising a few weeks ago and instantly fell in love.  I mean, come on, it’s a bunch of pictures of monsters and robots!  How can I NOT feel like this was made just for us?  (In case you don’t know us well enough, Mike LOVES robots, and his nicknames for me over the years have included “Monster,” “Shrek,” “Quasi” [as in Quasimodo] and “Shrekky-Shrek” [when he's feeling affectionate].  And when he proposed, instead of getting down on one knee and asking if I would be his wife, he asked if I would be his Monster.  Awwwww, I know, we’re occasionally cute in our own weird way.)