Family Picnic

All my Aunts, Uncle & Cousins went to my parents house for a dinner
and pool party.

The Culprit

See? It's not even that burnt!

Excitement!

Today we had a visit from the local Fire Department, Police Department, and Security Office. Why? Well, because someone toasted a bagel which set off the fire alarm in the building. The person who toasted the bagel didn't even burn it that badly. In fact, I'll post a picture of it afterwards. However, nevertheless they claimed the bagel set off the fire alarm causing everyone in the building to evacuate. It was interesting to see the response to a suspected fire.

First a single security personelle enters the building, by himself. Then a police officer enters the building, by himself. Then a firement enters the building, by himself. Apparently these three then join together to form Captain Planet and extinguish the fire.

Anyway, just a bit of excitement to start the day.

2nd Anniversary

Dodge and I celebrate our second anniversary today. He came home with flowers and cards for me. Since it is Wednesday and we both have to work tomorrow, we decided to just go out to dinner and then came home to watch a movie. Nothing big but still nice.

Shelfari

I heard about this social networking site on Good Morning America this morning because it was bought by Amazon. My tech podcast also mentioned it so I decided to check it out.

It is called Shelfari and is a site that allows you to create a profile, add books you’ve read, currently reading and plan to read. You can comment and rate books you’ve read, create book groups and share your reading list with friends.

Ok, mini rant here so skip a few paragraphs if you don’t want to hear it.

I personally hate most social networking sites. I’ll set up accounts and then after initial set up will not return there unless told by my friend “you never answered my message!” or “Why won’t you accept me as your friend!” It’s not that I’m not friendly. I just think these sites are a waste-o-freaking time.

They allow people to put up 8 million flashing seizure inducing pictures, 17 movies, 3000 quizzes, music that starts automatically (most of which I do not like) and don’t forget the deluge of application spam. Add that with the fact that the one time I possibly would look at such sites (like during lunch hour at work because I already ate my sammich and have time to kill), the site is blocked.

I dislike them greatly so be forewarned that contacting me through such sites is probably the worst way to do so. I have email, phone, im accounts and can receive texts. Heck I’m even a regular twitter user! Any / all of those will garner a response from me. A myspace bulletin inviting me to your party, will go unnoticed.

That little rant aside, Shelfari looks to be like a service I could possibly dig. I’m an avid reader and always looking for book suggestions. This will let me see what my friends are reading and if they enjoyed the book. Since it is now tied with Amazon I can easily click and buy the book for myself.

Not saying I’ll be there every day because it’s obviously not that interesting. It is still a step above other social networking sites in the fact that I actually plan on returning.

If you have an account and want to share your book lists with me, you can find my profile at http://www.shelfari.com/jamiehowell

Yay...

Starting my Monday out perfectly. I've been at work approximately 10
minutes and have already succeeded to spill Crystal Light on my tan
colored pants. Hopefully I have no meetings and can hide in my cube
all day.

Reception Picture

Picture mom took of us at Paul and Trisha's reception party. We were all hanging out for quite a while before the wedding party turned up.

Paul & Trisha's Wedding

Paul and Trisha got married today. It was a very beautiful ceremony in Dewitt.

Photos from the wedding posted to Flickr!

Ren Festival

While Dodge is at an all day bachelor party, I am at the ren festival with the Detriot crew. Sharon bought this huge staff from a guy at the pub. It's cool looking!

Dan told me that Jack Black is going to be at the Holly Ren Festival on September 13 and 14th shooting a movie. We are totally coming back that weekend.

After the ren festival we went to Buca's for dinner and then back to Sharon's house to relax in the hot tub, drink some beers, play some cards and watch the Olympics. Was a very long day but was a lot of fun.

Italian Day

Today we had "Italian Day" at work since our boss is Italian and she invited some people we work with from downstairs to come have lunch with us. We all had to bring in Italian food. Well what the frick do I know about Italian food so I made these pizza bite things. Ghetto Italian!

That's a picture of Shankar helping himself to panna cotta, or what we affectionately called "Boob Pudding" due to it's shape. It was really tasty.

We played a game where we had to guess things about Italy. I ended up winning and now am proudly displaying my "Italian Day 2008 Guessing Game Winner" certificate. How I won, I'm not sure. The guys were picking on me for my answers.

The biggest news of the day though was:

I ATE TOMATOES AND LIKED IT.

One of the guys from downstairs brought a crusty Italian bread that he rubbed with garlic and then a bowl of mozzarella, basil and tomatoes to put on top for a bruschetta. Honestly the pot was mostly tomatoes and I must of looked a bit woeful as I knew I was going to have to try some so the dude didn't feel bad.

I ate the crap out of it. In fact, I went back for seconds. I explained to him how I dislike tomatoes and that I consider them evil but I really liked his bruschetta (meaning it as a compliment). He was a bit of a smartypantsknowitall and explained that the roma tomatoes he used was why I liked it because of the diddlingdo and the doodlyblah. I didn't listen too hard.

So there you have it. Proof that all tomatoes are not the devil. Just most of them.

Trisha's Bachelorette Party

Trisha's bachelorette party was a bunch of fun. We started out at Trippers and went to the Whisky Barrel. The Whisky Barrel was a little odd. Those folks would line dance to absolutely anything. Country western, dance music, beastie boys. They weren't picky. A lot of cowboy hats though so I was happy.

I took a lot of pictures but not all of them are appropriate for public viewing so it's a private set on my Flickr account. I sent it to Trisha so she can share them if she chooses to.

Iron Chef Matt

Today Matt impresses me with his cooking skills. He made what he calls "Matt's Lemon Pepper Italian Chicken of Goodness" last night and shares his recipe with me. Instead of writing it down, I opted to draw it out in hieroglyphics. There are four steps. Follow along with the picture.

1. Take chicken breasts and put them on a plate. Stick it in the microwave for 15 minutes flipping after 7 minutes.
2. Take a cake pan and fill it 3/8" high with water and then an equal amount of Italian dressing. Stir with a fork.
3. Take chicken breast and slice down the center but not all the way through. Puncture chicken with a fork a couple times and add cut side down into the cake pan. Sprinkle lemon pepper seasoning on top.
4. Cover and put in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

All this = GOOD.

My Photo In an Article!

French Fries
Originally uploaded by Jamie Howell

I was contacted through Flickr for permission to use one of my photos in an article. I was so excited. The message I received didn't say what photo but did mention it was something about junk food which I really didn't pay attention to. I'm thinking it must be the pictures of the castles I've seen or the pretty grounds at Punta Cana or something neat like that.

I follow the link... it's a picture of the Freedom Fries I took in France. The photo I took right before Grandma's wallet was lost/stolen and our Paris trip went to hell.

The article is "French obesity report calls for junk food tax." It looks like the entire site allows anyone to just post anything to it so it's not as neat as I originally thought but, eh. It's kind of cool to see my photo right there.

More Pictures from Dominican Republic

Statue across from the Cathedral
Originally uploaded by cats_babyblues58

My mom has finished posting all her photos from Punta Cana to her flickr. You should go check them out! They went on an excursion to Santo Domingo while there and there's some really neat pictures of Columbus stuff that they saw.

Most interesting is they said Columbus never posed for a portrait so all pictures and statues of him is an artist's rendering and not actually what he looked like. I'm guessing he must of been an ugly fellow.

My pictures can be found by following this link to my flickr account.

Doodle Dog Bakery

We went to lunch with my parents and on the way home passed a little doggie store so we decided to stop in. It was the Doodle Dog Bakery in Flushing. They had toys and clothes and fancy dog treats. We got a little pizzas, BBQ squirrels, and little chocolate chip cookies to spoil our pups.

Wrought Iron Grill

We were going to go to see our friends in Detroit tonight but Dodge isn't feeling very well. Because I had no plans for dinner tonight, we decided to go try the Wrought Iron Grill. It's a new restaurant in town that has only been open for about a month and a half.

We really liked the atmosphere of the place immediately upon entering. When we sat Dodge commented, "I like this place" before even ordering any food.

We got the Mediterranean Platter for an appetizer. I love hummus and had to order it when seeing it on the list. The tabouli was ok although I had never had it before. The spicy feta dip though was fantastic and was my favorite on the plate. I also ordered a Dead Guy Ale to drink. It was pretty good but the bottle made it worth ordering.

For dinner we both ordered specials. The waitress told us each month one third of their menu will change to be more seasonal as well as having daily specials. I had a fettuccine with prosciutto and peas. It was absolutely delicious. Dodge ordered the prime rib and it was hugemongous and also very very good.

The place was a little more pricey compared to other restaurants in Owosso but it was also more upscale than most other places in Owosso. Was a great place for a date night and we will be back.

Monkey!

Monkey!
Originally uploaded by Jamie Howell

Here's the picture of me with a monkey. He was soft and so very tiny. There was also a picture taken with him on my shoulder and I honestly barely felt when he leaped off my shoulder he's so light.

They had other animals to get your picture taken with like parrots and snakes and such but I really only wanted me and the monkey. So much so that I ran out of the pool and straight at them when they announced pictures with a monkey. It explains why I look like I have no hair. It's all wet and slicked back from swimming.

Mom said she heard of the monkey biting someone and the handler's only reply was "Monkey no like you". Monkey was real good with me, though. Very trained. He sat on my hands waited for the flash of the camera and jumped back to the handler who put me it on my shoulder. Waited again for a flash and jumped back to the handler. Maybe I can trade on of the wieners in for a pet monkey...