Thanksgiving shop-a-thon while Walking The Line

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. I don't like turkey or stuffing, I'm not a Cowboys fan and all of my family lives up in Canada. So it's kind of a weird day for me. It was nice not to have to work, especially since I've been working late a lot lately to meet some project deadlines.

Today Amy and I hit the mall about 11AM and managed to snag the absolute best parking spot at The Parks. It's nice to have a MINI to drive and park in the over crowded lots. I bought a set of sheets for 80% off and a slightly discounted pair of Vans for myself. I also managed to do some Christmas shopping for my parents. We had lunch at Chick-Fil-A to refuel for the afternoon. Amy bought clothes and clothes and shoes. We had to make a few trips out to the MINI to deposit bags in the boot and make our mall trolling a bit easier. Each time, drivers would troll us out to the MINI, thinking we were about to leave, only to curse us when we didn't get in the car and tuned to head back towards the mall. A sadistic pleasure.

After reaching the shopping saturation point, we headed to the AMC theatre to catch Walk The Line which we had both been wanting to see badly. I remember liking Johnny Cash way back when I was younger and before it was cool to like Johnny Cash because of his sudden re-emergence as a hip bad ass just after the turn of the century. Anyway, the movie was great but it will forever overshadowed by the previews. I can understadn why the theatre company thought it wise to put a trailer for a cowboy movie before a film about Johnny Cash showing at a theatre in Texas. However, when the cowboy movie is about two gay cowboys, and the theatre is in a very Baptist suburb of the Metroplex, and it's the day after Thanksgiving nd the theatre is packed with entire families from Grandma to grandkids, it probably isn't going to go over well, and it didn't. It was a classic scene. The crowd perking up and getting interested at the start of the Brokeback Mountain preview but then reacting in shock and horror as the sexual orientation of the cowboys became apparent. At the end of the trailr, the family patriarch in the row behind us turned to his familay and said sternly, "Well we're not going to see that one..." I couldn't help but bust out laughing.

Our shopping and movie was followed by some late evening Steak n Shake to cap a rather busy day.

Ben Folds @ Nokia Theatre

An interesting crowd made it out for this concert: a strange mix of marching band geeks and music nerds balanced by white hats, sorority girls and indie scenesters. Ben Folds the piano wizard, tickled and pounded and abused the ivories for a solid performance. This is the third time I've seen Ben Folds perform live, and I think each show seems to get better (although the Orange Peel show in Stillwater, Oklahoma where it was him solo without any drums or guitar was really interesting). A great talent and storyteller and a lot more than just a brick that's drowning slowly.

Rylee

Today was the day. She's really cute. Rod and Steph are happy.

And I don't have to share my birthday.

the stork was delayed en route

My friends Rodney and Stephanie were supposed to have had their baby by now but she's being stubborn. So faced with one unexpected last weekend before parenthood sets in what would one do? Apparently the answer is to walk around the Fort Worth Zoo and look at all the cute animals and parents puching little kids in strollers, followed by watching the G-rated Chicken Little at the AMC in the Parks in Arlington. Interesting choices. It was fun though.

Dallas Stars vs. Edmonton Oilers @ AAC

With the NHL back in session, Amy didn't have to think to hard to figure out what to get me for my birthday. It's even better when she can just snag a pair of her employer's Dallas Stars season tickets for a game near my birthday. Better still is when the seats are absolutely the best seats I have ever had for an NHL game. I am seriously in the wrong line of work.

I picked Amy up at work and we headed to the AAC. Usually it's a nightmare to park at the merican Airlines Center but thanks to the season tickets we were able to use the nifty parkign pass and get into the close lots that are usually off limits to the commoners. Our seats were in Sec 115 Row O, right on the goal line in the Stars offensive end. They were probably just a little bit better than the seats I had for a game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Winnipeg Jets a the old Winnipeg Arena. I think the Jets tickets might have been a bit closer to the ice but because they were in an arena completely lacking in creature comforts, the Stars tickets win out.

The game was rather spectacular, with the new NHL rules really openign up play and decreasing stoppages. There did seem to be an abundance of penalties with large portions of each period spent with one of the teams on the power play. In the end, thanks to a stellar defensive and goaltending performance, the Stars prevailed over the Oilers by a final score of 4-0 with Turco racking up the shutout. This made me happy because it's always nice to see the Stars win but it is even better to see the Oilers lose. Yes, I still carry hatred for them from my tortured days as a Jets fan. Heck, I even wore my classic Jets shirt to the game. It makes me a little sad at times to be a big hockey fan with no team to cheer for. Someday the NHL will return to Winnipeg, and that will be a glorious day. Go Jets Go!

they say it's your birthday

It's nice to know that I'm still young enough to get sick on chocolate cake and pizza on my birthday. To celebrate the big day, Amy pre-ordered a big chocolate raspberry truffle cake of some sort from the Celebrity bakery not too far from her apartment. We picked it up in the afternoon and then headed to downtown Fort Worth for dinner at Pizzeria Uno. A dinner of Uno deep dish has become my birthday tradition of sorts since moving to Fort Worth because after all the Pizza Place in Winnipeg is a bit too far to go. After dinner we came back to my place and I had a huge slice of cake. It was decadent, and that's a word I don't use very often or throw around lightly. The cake was a deep rich choclate and the icing heavy and sweet, almost pushing me to the limit of what I could stand.

I ended up paying for it the next day, with a lingering woozy stomach from too much chocolate cake. I'm probably the only person who suffers from a cake hangover the morning after their birthday. It was oh so worth it though.