The Weekend Edition

Another weekend down, and one in preparation of a new adventure that I never expected to take. It was a good weekend, and one that was definitely better than the previous one (which was a tad dramatic for my taste). What went down?

• Getting off work early, time for Frisbee Golf with Marc and Colver!
• Filming 4 Color News & Brews with Brandon
• Moose's Tooth with Darren, Cate and Eric
• Downtown bars (and riding the bull!) with Eric, Cate, Lorna, Cassi and others
• Hitting up Fire Island with Steph
• 3rd/4th Place game in the World Cup at the Bear Tooth with Marc and Eric
• Foosball like CRAZY!
• Watching Colver and Joanne's softball team with Marc (free beer and burgers!)
• Grilling and hanging out at Colver and Lorna's with a slew of people
• World Cup final at my place with Marc, Eric and Colver (horrible game)
• Frisbee Golf with Marc and Colver (again!)
• Hula Hands!
• Cake article writing!
• Hanging out and watching movies!

Because this isn't necessarily worth a full article (and nothing really stands out as momentous enough to have its own big moment section down here), I figure I'll talk about movies.

Recently I signed up for Netflix on my Xbox 360, allowing me to instantly stream movies via Netflix on my TV...and it is freaking AWESOME.

I've been watching all kinds of movies lately on it, and massively disparate ones at that. In the past two weekends I've watched King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters, Ink, 2 Days in Paris, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 180 Degrees South and Zombieland, all without having to move or really do anything besides pressing a few buttons. There are tons of movies that I want to see on there that I haven't seen yet, and it instantaneously makes the whole Netflix paradigm worthwhile for me once again. Plus, with so many movies on there I've never heard of, I may find a new favorite purely by accident.

If you haven't tried it out (and I'm sure you have, because I'm behind on everything cool), I highly recommend it.

The Weekend Edition (Version Kim.0)

My dear friend Kim came into town over the past weekend, which led this weekend to be extra ridiculous and extra packed as well as extra long. I took Friday off to hang out with her, much to her (and my) delight. What went down?

• Breakfast at Middle Way with Kim
• Hiking Flat Top with Kim
• Lunch at Dish and making it rain golf balls at the driving range with Kim and Colver
• Crazy times in Anchorage bars with Kim, Lorna, Colver, Amy, Justin, Eric, and Chris (AND GALLAGHER!)
• Being saddened by the US Soccer team losing to Ghana in the knockout rounds at Humpy's
• Knight and Day with Joanne and Kim (awesomely entertaining!)
• Going to play Bingo with Colver, Joanne and Kim (ridiculous, but entertaining)
• Hanging out with Joanne, watching movies and eating home made ice cream sandwiches
• Talkeetna adventure with Colver, Lorna and Kim!

Over the past few years, a number of people have moved out of my life, but perhaps none have been sadder departures than Kim. Her move to Portland left me with one less partner-in-crime, as I could always rely on Kim to do pretty much damn near everything I wanted to do so long as I gave her a little warning. I mean, this weekend kind of showed that: a hike, bingo, road trips, delicious meals, a movie, and more. It was a fantastic weekend, even if Anchorage didn't give her much more than Portland had recently in the weather department. It was fantastic having her back.

Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that Friday night while at the bars, we hung out with Gallagher. As in THE Gallagher, of comedy and smashing watermelons fame. It was surreal, as he was just hanging out at the bar meeting people in downtown Anchorage. How weird is that? Just another odd highlight of a top weekend filled with all kinds of ridiculousness. Just the way I like it.

The Weekend Edition (TGAASH2KX Edition)

I've gotten back to slacking at the good ol' blog, but I'm returning with another glorious entry in my "Weekend Edition" series in which I recap my life on the weekends. This weekend...was a particularly good one. I've discovered that I almost never have remotely bad ones, but this one? This one was a gem. Why is that?

• Dinner at Bear Tooth with Gen and Eric (and eventually Colver and Joanne)
• Buckaroo Club with Gen, Eric, Colver, Joanne, Amy, Olivia and JT - yeah!
• Gathering the troops with Joanne
• The meet up at Middle Way Cafe for The Great Alaska Awesome Scavenger Hunt 2010!
• The Great Alaska Awesome Scavenger Hunt 2010! with Joanne, Steph and Gen
• Father's Day BBQ at my parents
• Toy Story 3 with my family - amazing!
• Bike ride from my apartment to Point Woronzof - surprisingly exhausting
• Catching Bravo's Work of Art with Amy

The highlight had to be The Great Alaska Awesome Scavenger Hunt 2010 (aka TGAASH2KX). The only reason I didn't mention this on my blog before was because of purely slackerness (a new word trademarked to me exclusively), but this was an event I had randomly came up with when wanting to sing karaoke as I drove along blaring music and singing along as per usual. Then, I proposed the idea to Joanne and we came up with a laundry list of activities for teams of 2 to do together. Thus...TGAASH2KX was born.

Eventually it expanded a bit, as our founding team became Joanne, Stephanie, Gen and myself. We ended up with four teams who had from noon until midnight to check as many things off on the list as humanly possible. This list included tiers of possible scoring activities, from things as simple as "take a picture with a police officer" to things as intense as "zipline from Flat Top to the Sheraton Hotel". Our team rocked the house and had an AMAZING day doing so. I couldn't possibly have had a better team, as we drove around singing along to glorious tunes, learning a lot about each other, and having the best day ever together. It was just..sublime.

Hopefully this ends up being the first of many of these events. We've already casually discussed what we'll do if we end up moving away from each other...getting back together for a new event yearly? Meeting at a new place? Who knows, but I do know that this event had to have been one of the best days ever.

I'll post videos of some of the more ridiculous events (getting naked in Chilkoot Charlie's Birdhouse and falling into Westchester Lagoon had to be the clubhouse leaders for "most ridiculous"), but trust me when I say it was one of the most ridiculous days ever.

The Weekend Edition

After a weekend that had even more awesome because of the extra day in its midst, it would have taken a lot to keep everything going as strong. Given that it's summer in Alaska and the world is my oyster though it was still a phenomenal time even with the slightly shorter weekend than the holiday provided. Why is that?

• Party down! with Amy, Eric, Cate, and a ton more characters (see picture below)
• Relaxed day chilling at Amy's watching movies
• Get Him to the Greek with Colver and Lorna
• Mexican night at Amy's!
• Biscuits and Gravy with Cate and Darren (Bear Tooth ftw!)
• Hiking False Falls Peak with Amy, Stephanie and Olivia (sliding down the mountain!)
• Frisbee golf with Amy and Emily
• Garden party with Amy, Puff Daddy, Cornershop, and a lot, lot more
• Frisbee on the park strip

Another near perfect weekend in the books found me entertained from all types of things provided by the diversity Anchorage offers. While I frequently complain about Alaska during the winter, you rarely see me say anything negative about it in the summertime. Why is that?

Because it's freaking awesome.

Perpetual sunlight and warm weather. The ability to get on the water, get to the mountains, and do anything in between within the city. People that are constantly up for anything because they know winter is always around the corner. Really, you combine those things and you get one hell of a recipe for an awesome time.

Expect many, many more very positive Weekend Editions going forward, assuming we don't have a random snowpocalypse or something of that sort in the near future. *knocks on wood*

The Weekend Edition (V. Memorial Day Weekend)

This is coming in late because it turns out Memorial Day Weekend is long, sun-filled, and crazy fun in Alaska circa 2010. It was a weekend that was filled to the brim with 80's dance films, POW camps, BBQ's, hiking, camping, and even a man named Dollface. What all went down this past weekend?

• Sleeping through the Celtics/Magic on Friday at Colver's (turns out it didn't with a bang)
• Intense foosball over at Colver's with Amy, Eric and Colver
• Kick-Ass! (very entertaining, but not a great movie)
• Camping adventure to Crescent Creek with Colver, Amy, Eric, Jason and Becca
• Random biking adventures on the Coastal Trail solo style
• Hiking towards Hidden Lake with Amy and Eric (as well as a bit of solo run around Wolverine)
• Impromptu bad movie night while eating BBQ at Cate and Darren's (Girls Just Want to Have Fun and Flashdance)
• Dinner party over at _ _ _ _ _'s place
• Other randomness throughout

This weekend was important for many reasons. The biggest of those reasons had to be the fact that I finally escaped from a POW camp that I'd been in for years (see top of the page) and that Eric finally made the leap from "Padawan Learner" to full out "Jedi." Way to go Dollface!

Really though, it wasn't important, it was just a ton of fun. The greatness of Memorial Day Weekend is always multiplied by how sunny and warm it is out, and this weekend was sunny the whole time and warm as all get out. Memorial Day Weekend was a flawless victory of awesome. Amy's return upped the ante even more, leading to many outdoor ventures including a most triumphant camping trip to Crescent Creek and some outstanding hikes.

Her return combined with the beautiful summer has led me to also basically live outside, slowly but surely transitioning me into a skin tone that I can only describe as "Farmer's Adonis" (in my mind, Adonis was really tan. I am extremely tan, but only in a farmer's tan sort of way. Hence, Farmer's Adonis...it works, I swears it). This weekend was a superb representation of that, turning my strong tan into an intense, potentially-indicative-of-George-Hamilton-style-efforts one.

While this has led me to completely abandon my blog (my bad guys!), it's totally worth it as May was full of fantastic in every way, culminating in a ridiculously great Memorial Day Weekend. Here's hoping the rest of the summer matches up. One way or another, you'll be able to find out here, as The Weekend Edition is now back in action.

The Weekend Edition

This weekend was my triumphant return to Anchorage after my Coachella trip, and realistically I probably should have taken it easy. Taking it easy is overrated. What went down?

• Don Jose's with Colver and Lorna
• Broken Lizard at Wendy Williamson
• Drinks at Firetap with Lorna, Colver, Amy, Cate and Eric
• Classy times at an establishment with the initials GABC
• Breakfast with Amy and Justin at Snow City
• Slush Cup 2010!
• Destroying my tire like a freaking idiot on the return from Slush Cup
• Shutter Island at Bear Tooth with my mom and sister
• Breakfast with sister at Middle Way Cafe
• Leisurely writing day that led into a leisurely night of catching up on comics and TV

So the weekend was busy, busy, busy with the exception of my Sunday which was about as lazy as you can get (except for my work out - my near constant consumption of food and no working out was getting to me).

The highlight of the weekend was definitely the Slush Cup, which is something that happens every year in Alaska yet I'd never attended. Count that one checked off, as this year Colver and I went and met up with Amy and Justin to have a couple beers and watch some people eat it as they try to make it over a pool on skis and snowboards.

The weird thing about it is the whole exercise is significantly less interesting when the contestants actually make it across. Ideally, they eat it much to the entertainment of yours truly. Well, that's not true. Ideally, they do something insane (i.e. a back flip) and manage to somehow still make it across as their body skips across the water like a really svelte rock. When that happened at this year's Slush Cup, the audience as a whole lost their minds like Jesus just scored the game winning touchdown for the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl (because let's face it, Jesus would be a Patriot).

It was a good time, and it was also entertaining for the mere fact that it was the single biggest collective of attractive people I've seen in Alaska ever. Now I know where everyone has been hiding...on mountains on long sticks attached to their feet. No wonder why I never see them.

The Weekend Edition (Amy's Return)

In honor of my dear friend Amy Steele's return (yay!), I figured I'd get back to the basics of doing my Weekend Edition write ups, as she let me know she was a fan and missed them. So here goes nothing...what went down this weekend?

• Bad movie night with Cate, Darren, Eric, Colver, Lorna, Stephanie, Emily, Olivia and Eric (yeah!)
• Breakfast at Spenard Roadhouse with Dad (sweet biscuits and gravy? tasty, but weird)
• Errand running with Emily (Best Buy ridiculousness, Midnight Sun brewery, dog park)
• French Dips with Colver and Jason at Blues Central
• Tons of beer and shuffleboard at the Buck with a slew of people
• Dance party plus with Eric, Joanne, and others for Gen's bday
• Feeling historically awful the next day
• Welcome back Amy! dinner at Moose's Tooth

Oh dear, it was a good weekend for me to bring back the Weekend Edition on. This one had it all: great friends, great food, great times. Oh yeah, and the most horrendous hangover in months. I felt like I was beaten with a tree branch and sleep deprived for a month. If it weren't for a series of naps, some McDonald's, and heavy doses of liquids, I would have been no good at all for Amy's dinner.

The highlight of the weekend, in one of many, many highlights, had to be Amy's return. As much as I tried to pretend I didn't miss her (I'm great at out of sight, out of mind), as soon as I saw her I was really thankful to have her back. She may be a completely ridiculous person, but she's my type of ridiculous and I'm looking forward to having my good fellow frisbee golfing and summer loving friend back on a mostly regular basis.

The Weekend Edition (Getting Nerdy)

This weekend was one of the nerdiest ones of my life. For someone who is perpetually nerdy, this is quite the statement. Why was it so nerdy? See below:

• Filming another podcast with Brandon (subscribe to our YouTube channel here!)
• Dinner over at Cate, Darren and Eric's and watching The Box (horrible!)
• Mellow morning/afternoon catching up on things (and reading Bayou - incredible)
• Going over to Brandon's to plot our interview with Mouse Guard creator David Petersen
• Mouse Guard interview going off without a hitch! Well, besides fleets of people
• Dinner at Moose's Tooth with Colver and Brandon
• Going to the Buck to play darts with Colver
• Star Wars exhibit at the Anchorage Museum with Colver
• Destroying my knee once and for all playing basketball
• Making a tasty dinner (chicken stir fry with peanut sauce)

So, besides that second to last thing it was a very good weekend, and one that was highlighted by the nerdy experiences. I'm really enjoying filming the podcast, and getting that David Petersen interview in before next weekend's Emerald City ComiCon was a very good thing.

I have to say David and his wife Julia were two amazing people, and both Brandon and I were incredibly thankful to get our first live interview experience with such warm and wonderful people. The Captain Cook helped out as well, giving us access to their top floor to film at which was great. The only problem were the people flooding in and out, often into shot and making a racket. But I had a great time sitting down with David. I'll post the videos from it once both are up (or you can subscribe to our YouTube channel!).

After we wrapped up, we had David sign a couple books for us (one for Brandon and one for a contest winner we had at Multiversity), and I also asked him if he'd be able to doodle something for me real quick. Well, instead of doing a quick job, he actually put together an illustration of my favorite character from Mouse Guard in his new form. Lieam took over as The Black Axe in the last book, and in a way I have an illustration that represents his first appearance. I was so thankful to David for that and for the opportunity. If you have the opportunity to meet him, I highly suggest it.

I also went and checked out the Star Wars exhibit at the Anchorage Museum today, and I was immediately turned into a kid again. Seeing X-Wing models, Chewbacca's costume, and the Millennium Falcon was an experience I never even imagined getting, and I did thanks to my sister Bobbie and her awesome birthday present. Thanks so much Bobbie! Also, fun fact: they didn't tear my tickets so I'm going to go again not on a weekend so I can get the full experience. Yeah!

The Weekend Edition (Birthdays Rule)

This weekend (Sunday the 17th to be specific) I turned 26 years old. It was a very awesome weekend, as friends and family went out of there way all over the place to do awesome things for me. What I ever did to deserve them, I have no idea. All I know is I enjoyed their charity all weekend long. What went down?

• 2010 Great Alaskan Beer and Barley Wine Festival with Joanne, Cate, Darren, Eric, Jason, Becca, Kyle, and Jessi
• Riding the bull with Cate, Colver, Lorna and a bunch of others
• Drinks at Sub Zero with Colver, Lorna, Emily, Potts and more
• Bobby and I dominating downtown (I think)
• Delicious Middle Way breakfast with my sister
• Joanne and I, fake husband and wife date night! (Marian Call concert at Organic Oasis - so much deliciousness and good music, plus hanging with Eric and Olivia!)
• Emily making the most ridiculously awesome brunch ever for my birthday morning - biscuits & gravy, omelettes, coffee, and mimosas with Emily, Cate, Darren and Eric
• The Fantastic Mr. Fox at Bear Tooth with my sister Bobbie and niece Emily
• Delicious Club Paris steaks with Joanne and my parents
• Lost with Joanne

So yeah, it was a bit packed. The fun highlight was definitely the insanity that is the Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival. It's always an amazing time and a great way to run into people you haven't seen in forever. Of course, it's also a recipe for complete and utter disaster with a sprinkling of embarassing moments. I spent the rest of the evening, or at least most of it, dancing like a fool at The Avenue. I mean come on, how often do you get a chance to dance to Major Lazer?

There is a distinct possibility that there are sections of the evening I do not remember, but hey, that'll happen. I woke up in one piece and as of yet I haven't found anyone that's mad at me, so apparently the night went okay for me. See below for some pics from the rest of the night.








The rest of the weekend was highlighted by the Marian Call concert and dinner at Organic Oasis plus the dinner at Club Paris with my parents and Joanne. Club Paris is my absolute favorite restaurant and to share a meal with my family and my fake wife was glorious. To top it off, my parents got me some great gifts, in particular some amazing Karl Kerschl prints and a t-shirt from his webcomic The Abominable Charles Christopher. A superb finale to the weekend. Check out the prints below.


However, I'd be lying if I didn't say the true highlight is the brunch Emily prepared for me on my birthday. Eric, Cate, Darren and I went over there, and Emily made phenomenal biscuits & gravy from scratch for everyone. For those that do not know, B&G are pretty much my favorite food ever. It's very difficult to find quality versions of it as well, and Emily knocked it out of the park. Throw in omelettes, tasty coffee, cinnamon rolls, mimosas, and T-Pain, and it was an awesome start to my 26th year of life. I'm an incredibly lucky person to have people like this in my life. See a pic below of part of the spread (note that it's small because I devoured it - also, Emily the chef is at the center of the picture).

The Weekend Edition (My Dad's Birthday Edition!)

Week one of barcotting is through, and it was a roaring success! I had a great and (mostly) healthy weekend with the exception of some particularly appetizing looking samples at Sam's Club (warehouse shopping's deep, dark side). Not only that, but I had a wonderful weekend with friends and family alike. Why can't every weekend be like that?

Oh wait! It can!

So what went down?

• Group Centergy with Cate, Steph, Olivia, JT and Gen
• Dinner at Bear Tooth with Cate, Darren, Eric and Gen
• Joanne returns! Coffee with her making up for lost time
• Breakfast burritos at Middle Way with Cate, Darren, Eric and Gen
• Christmas shopping - kill me
• My Dad's hellaciously awesome 61st birthday party!
• Getting a lot of writing done at Kaladi Brothers
• Ballin' with Colver (the Sunday tradition when I'm not waking up at 3 pm)
• Restful evening of movie watching and more writing

The highlight of the weekend was without a doubt my Dad's birthday party. This party is a grand mess, with my family and a ton of family friends (including the illustrious Charbonneau's and Colver, Lorna and my Facebook wife Joanne) getting together to celebrate my Dad's big day. It led to tons of shots, Wii Fit-ing, political debates, Joanne and I dancing to Yo La Tengo's "Periodically Double or Triple", and all kinds of other great things. It also resulted in the revelation of my birthday present for my Dad and my Christmas present for my friends - snuggies! Yeah!

All in all, another great weekend. Why can't there be awesome birthday parties every weekend? Either way, Happy Birthday Dad!

The Weekend Edition

Man...this was a weird weekend. Not weird in any events that happened, as much as it is weird in how murdered my Sunday was by Colver's hellacious birthday celebration. Alas, what are you going to do. Here's what happened:

• NBA Friday at Colver's place (I'm pretty sure they need to play the Blazers every week, nothing is funnier than the Oden/Pryzbilla combination)
• Bowling at Jewel Lake Bowl with Colver, Lorna, Eric, Darren and Cate
• Breakfast Burritos and Ludacris at Middle Way Cafe with Cate
• Working a GCI event (which is actually really fun for me, I like talking)
• Working out with Cate and Eric (and by working out I mean running a mile and And1 Mixtaping with Eric)
• Catching up on Curb Your Enthusiasm (great season)
• Colver's birthday celebration
• Being awake for 6 incredibly tiring hours on Sunday

Saturday's celebration with Colver and Lorna turned into an extended hangout with Nick and Ryan Atkins and their respective girlfriends. It was a great time, but mother of god, I was destroyed. This leads me to a big point: I am now officially barcotting. No more bars for me for the rest of the year unless it is for some sort of event (i.e. Humpy's Pub Quiz) or for a more relaxing evening at somewhere like Crush.

I've realized recently that I far prefer going to someone's place and drinking casually while simply talking. As attractive getting annihilated really is, it is nice to keep the spending down and actually be able to function the next day. So we're going to take that off for a while. As Amy Steele would likely say, I'm an all or nothing guy. It's going to be more of the nothing for the next little while. That sounds like all I could hope for.

The Weekend Edition (Thanksgiving Edition)

The only thing better than a weekend is a long weekend. Well, that and vacation. Vacation definitely beats long weekends. Regardless, this weekend was a holiday weekend and because of that, it was an extended weekend. It found myself getting into all kinds of ridiculous activities because that's what I do, simply put. What went down?

• Moose's Tooth with Darren, Colver and Eric
• An Education at Fireweed with Katherina and Kerstin
• Thanksgiving! Lots of football, food, and family!
• Friendsgiving at Gen's place (along with a viewing of the Christmas classic Prancer)
• Working a crazy Black Friday event (lots of talking to customers while being semi-conscious from being sleep deprived)
• Snow City with Joanne, Kyle and Jessi (Pier 49 Scramble = best thing ever)
• Taking a crash course on Karl Kerschl's The Abominable Charles Christopher
• Dinner and tons of ring toss at Snow Goose with Chris and Eric
• Crush with Chris, Eric, Emily and Katherina
• Ridiculousness aplenty at Emily's with Chris, Eric and Katherina
• Two days of Middle Way Cafe avocado breakfast burritos (mmmm)
• Tons and tons of writing (about comics and Ludacris mostly)
• The Colver family house warming party (with complimentary airplane rides!)
• Ballin' at the AK Club with Colver

When I think about it some times, I really have a remarkably easy and fortuitous life. Nearly nothing bad ever happens to me, I have a wonderful family and an incredible group of friends, I accidentally fall into pitch perfect opportunities such as my writing gig for the ADN, and frequently the biggest problem in my life is solving the riddle of what I want to eat for dinner. Woe is me.

Saturday was a great example of this, as I had a brilliantly care free day, mostly based around eating delicious foods, drinking impossibly tasty scotches (so long as it is cut with coke - I'm only so classy) and high class craft beers, and hanging out with my best friends. We played beer pong, gave each other airplane rides, sangalong to Michael Jackson, had hysterical moments of zen featuring girls playing video games, and shared the gift of cream cheese laden hot dogs. That the evening closed with myself falling asleep on a friends couch as we talked about life and how ridiculous it can be was but the icing on the cake.

I know it's not exactly kosher for someone to drone on and on about things of this sort, but sometimes it's impossible to not want to. Ain't life grand? It really seems to be, and has been perpetually for quite some time. Let's hope it stays like that. I'm a firm believer in the concept of life being what you make of it, so I find this to be a very likely scenario.

The Weekend Edition

Another Weekend Edition almost missed - no more! Of course, this weekend went well into the evening on Sunday and then my Monday night was dominated by my new found love Group Centergy, so there was no time for writing. Thankfully, I'm a persnickety ol' fella.

• 2012 with Cate (epic in its terribleness - review coming later)
• Trying Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop with Stephanie for the first time (delicious!)
• Coaching a BlackBerry training class for work
• GREEK NIGHT! (lamb/falafel/wine and lots of ridiculousness)
• Going out on the town with everyone (so much dancing)
• Middle Way breakfast with Joanne and Eric
• Getting some writing done
• Helping Emily set up her new place
• Watching Goodbye Lenin! with Stephanie and Gen (amidst popcorn wars)

While many wonderful things happened this past weekend, I'll take this time to share something many of you may have missed: my marriage to Joanne Ballagh.


Joanne and I have had a legendary friendship. We've been inseparable for basically the past 11 months and after my good friends Colver and Lorna's wedding, I decided it was time to take that to the next level. That night I texted her and proposed marriage and she accepted. Of course it wouldn't be happening until we were 35 assuming I never met anyone better, but it was a proposal all the same.

Then our ridiculousness sped up the timeline, as we quickly realized being fake married on Facebook would be a hilarious idea. Predictably it turned out incredibly well, as the announcement of our nupitals resulted in an avalanche of text messages and status update comments like the world of Facebook has never seen. It was ridiculous. You would think I just changed my status to "deceased" or something. Things of that nature are sort of Joanne and I's business, and business, my friends, is good.

Like all relationships between star crossed non-lovers though there have been trials and tribulations. One evening she annoyed me and I quickly divorced her, leading to us having a heartfelt embrace at trivia night that week as we discovered we couldn't live without one another. And by hearfelt embrace, I mean she said "it actually makes me sad that we got divorced." and I responded with "I guess we can get "remarried"?" and then we hugged, and by couldn't live without one another I mean we realized it was more funny to have us listed as married.

Strangely enough though, my fictitious wife and I are one of the only purely platonic, simultaneously single, opposite sex pairs I've ever heard of. It's amazing, although I do wish she would hog less of my bed. I guess in some regards it is like a real marriage then.

The Weekend Edition

I can hardly believe it. I haven't written a weekend edition since September...that's pretty incredible. Given that it is my one and only regular post, you'd think I'd stay up to date on it, especially given that it's just a recap of my weekend. Attribute it to laziness, my busy nature, or whatever, it just hasn't been happening. However, it's Sunday night and it was a particularly good weekend (despite a rather devestating Patriots loss tonight) and I feel as if it's time to restart the time honored (and recently ignored) tradition. What happened this weekend?

• Closing the week without having to go in for jury duty once
• A particularly delicious home cooked meal of tofu pad thai
• Big movie night at my place (with many, many guests)
• Breakfast at Snow City with Stephanie, Olivia and JT
• Awesome day at Kaladi Brothers with Brandon, Cate and Eric
• Downtown early evening shenanigans with Eric and Cate
• Catching the fantastic and brutal (for one guy) Pacquiao/Cotto fight
• Delicious breakfast at Middle Way (with complimentary potential job offer!)
• Kaladi day with Cate, Eric and Gary Busey
• Basketball with Colver
• People over for Patriots game that ended...tragically

Note the extreme lack of crazy partying by myself. There are a number of reasons why this happened and likely will be happening much more often. Let us count the ways:

1. It's cold as hell out
2. It's expensive to party
3. Removes (most) opportunities for me to embarass myself
4. There is so much to do without going out!

Staying in solves the first three problems, it allows me to follow through on reason 3, and it opens up the extremely underrated concept of doing things on Saturday and Sunday without feeling like death (oh not feeling like death, how I adore you). There is one additional caveat: it allows me to get to know new friends better.

It seems like every six to nine months (or about when Cate will be quitting a job), my group has a bit of a refresh of people. Every Friend Season (as I will be calling them now), my group loses two to three people yet seemingly replaces them without skipping a beat. This weekend, I had ample opportunity to hang out with great new friends like Stephanie, Gen, Katherina, Kerstin, Olivia, and Eric (not to mention the immortal Gary Busey), and it was a wonderful time. I really enjoy our new batch of friends, and it's perfect timing heading into The-Season-That-Must-Not-Be-Named. It seems as if plans for elaborate parties (ranging from Snuggie Parties to classy dress parties and beyond) are being proposed at a frenetic pace, leading me to grin with delight at the sheer prospect.

As Victor Hugo once said, "winter is on my head but eternal spring is in my heart." Such is the curative power of good friends, providing me an eternal spring during my least favorite time of the year. Now if we could just get rid of this ridiculous five degree weather, teh rest of me could feel something resembling eternal spring as well. C'est la vie, Alaska.

The Weekend Edition

This weekend was a bittersweet one, as it was a lot of fun but at the same time it represented the last weekend myself and my friends were going to be able to spend with our wonderful friend Amy Steele. She's being a jerk and is moving, but alas, at least it gave us a good excuse to have a party. What went down this weekend?

• Iron & Wine at the Wendy Williamson with my mom and sister
• Koots with Cate, Eric, Joanne, Lorna, Jason, Becca and Team Germany
• (500) Days of Summer with Amy
• Amy's going away dinner at Simon and Seafort's
• Hijinks and tomfoolery at Point Woronzof
• Party down at my place with everyone
• Peanut Farm for football Sunday with Jason and Joanne (go Pats!)
• Relaxing all day after that (very necessary)

Us shrouded by the sunset

Our Saturday evening was quite magical, with a large posse of us Alaskans going from a very nice dinner at Simon and Seafort's, going on a road trip to Point Woronzof to watch the sunset, and then going back to my place for Rock Band, beer pong, and loads of ridiculousness. It was a great time, one in which we figured out what exactly I was going to be for Halloween (very exciting), we made Amy sad and happy simultaneously (my going away present was quite well received), and we had a ton of fun while doing it. All in all the party was a great success, and I will stop using words and share pictures instead. See them below.

Cate, Darren, Amy, Eric and I harassing Joanne at the end of the night

Ladies rocking the house

I'm pointing everyone to the future...of America

Three person piggy back!

The Weekend Edition

Myself with two cute girls all over me - don't pretend you're not impressed

As previously mentioned, Yes Month continues to be an roaring success. This weekend was a good example of that as nearly every minute of every day was accounted for with fun to be had by all. By all, I mean myself and occasionally others as well.

What went down?

• Moose's Tooth after work with Amy, Cate, Joanne, Eric and Darren (plus a special guest star - couch surfer whose name I cannot recall)
• Counter-Strike, Hot Rod, and the No Pants Dance (not like that) at my house
• Dancing like crazy for four straight hours while at the bars with the previous group minus Darren and the couch surfer)
• Relaxation at Middle Way and Kaladi's with my best friends (a breakfast burrito, an americano and a really awesome comic)
• Two seriously intense one-on-one basketball games between Colver and I
• The Charbonneau Family Dinner (so much fun!)
• The first Football Sunday of the year (wake at 8, early games with Amy, Jessie and Joanne at Eddies' with a tasty breakfast buffet and coffee, late games at the Peanut Farm with Joanne and...a different Jessie)
• Balancing hours of sitting and watching football with running at the gym
• Decompressing at my home for once

With all of the high highs that happened this weekend, I feel like this is a good time to talk about something that I've always meant to talk about on here: the ongoing one-on-one basketball tournament that Colver and I have been playing for a long time. First up, a little back story: Colver and I have been playing basketball together since college, but we mostly played with other people while at college.

Since moving to Alaska, we've gotten gym memberships and started playing an endless series of one-on-one games which have effectively rendered each of us useless against the other person. Colver is a naturally good defender because he's quick and is long, but against me he's like a mixture of Bruce Bowen and Ben Wallace circa 2004 because we've been playing together so long. Essentially at this point, the only shots I have open are three pointers (once a strong suit of mine but a skill that has regressed) and shots in the paint that are preceded by approximately 8 spin moves and are often in the form of no look finger rolls while fading away from the basket. That is not an overstatement.

For the most part, we play weekly, but with two weddings in the past two months (including Colver's own) we had not played in a month and a half. Yet as soon as we stepped on the court, we picked it right back up and split both games. Of course, given that we battle to stalemates constantly and our games to 15 almost always end up finishing at 23-21 or some other rather insane score, our games end up looking like the basketball version of today's Bengals/Broncos match up (minus the insane last play), or like a slow motion version of our earlier selves. Basically, the winner of the second game is the person who survives it.

We've had a running tab of wins/losses for the past half a year or so and Colver is up 16 to 14, but that is after a hot streak carried him to an early 9 to 3 lead. I've made a fearsome comeback, but ultimately that's not even the point. You always see in movies where the main character has a main friend or a main group of friends who they play basketball with and it always seems a bit contrived. Oddly enough, I've found out that not only does this happen in real life, but it's incredibly awesome. It's the ultimate friend bonding experience for guys and it really is my favorite part of the week.

That's even with me being down in the series, which is amazing because I'm incredibly competitive. As soon as I surpass Colver (and I will), I think I'll like it even more. Which is amazing.

The Weekend Edition (Labor Day Style)

Cate was clearly into the weekend as well

Any time you have a three day weekend at your disposal you will likely have a better time than usual simply because there is more time to do what you want. When you're a person who is going through a month where they have to say yes to everything it's likely to be a very busy time, especially when you have intensely social friends like I do. Somewhat unsurprisingly I just got done fitting a full weeks worth of activities into essentially three days.

Intense.

What went down?

• Off work early for Frisbee Golf in the sun
• Hanging at Snow Goose on the deck with the Anchorage crew
• First Friday artwalk and dinner at Humpy's with Amy, Cate, Eric, Joanne and Emily
• The German Party (yes!)
• Snow City breakfast with my sister
• Hula Hands with Brian, Colver, Joanne, Eric and Morgan (seriously amazing)
• Inglourious Basterds with the Hula Hands crew
• Exercise! Glorious exercise! with Joanne
• Talking to my mom on the phone for lengthy periods
• Rib Night at Cate and Darren's (with Wii Sports Resort - swordfighting! - and I Love You, Man)
• Alaska State Fair with Amy, Joanne, Benny and the Germans
• Frisbee golf and exercise! with Joanne and Amy
• Moose's Tooth with Amy, Joanne, Eric, Cate and Darren
• Weirdest night at the bars ever with Eric and Bobby (after a hilarious episode of coin flipping in my driveway)
• (500) Days of Summer with my mom (and an avocado melt from Middle Way)
• A round of Frisbee Golf at Kincaid with Colver, Lorna, Joanne, Eric and Amy
• Family dinner and PANDEMIC!!

The German Night crew!

The highlight of the weekend (although there were many) was the complete awesomeness that was German Night. German Night was effectively a small get together of the interns of a small German immersion school in Anchorage that Joanne was invited to, and thusly we were invited as well. It ended up being Joanne, Amy, Eric and I raiding the party, and there were a total of seven German interns there and they were amazing. We spent the entire evening doing all kinds of ridiculous things, such as teaching them the fine arts of beer pong (and by teaching I mean dominating their faces as Eric and I were ridiculously on) or wrestling to the death (as Joanne and Benny did later on - Joanne lost).

Myself, Toby, Joanne, Benny and Alex

Not only were there hijinks, but there was a lot of bonding to be had. All of these new people were wonderful, as they are intelligent, funny, charming and way better at English than I am, which is all the more impressive given that they aren't acutally from this country. I'm all about making new friends, and with almost all of the interns staying until February of 2010, count me as someone who is psyched about the possibilities. Here's hoping they stay on as full time friends because they are a ton of fun to hang out with.

Myself and my bride to be Joanne

Plus, anyone who can make Eric and I look like the Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen of beer pong holds a special place in my heart. Thanks Team Germany!

The Weekend Edition

After an intensely busy weekend, I'm completely wiped out. I had grand aspirations of writing a couple blogs on here and an additional one on my comic blog Multiversity Comics, but because of the busy weekend, the mass of laundry necessary and my busted knee (caused by my incessant need to be clumsy - arguably the thing I am best at) I decided it was possibly a better idea just to relax and watch some movies. The trio I've watched are Dazed and Confused, Kung Fu Panda and Children of Men, which pretty much expresses how odd of a person I am.

No less, here is what went down this weekend:

• Colver's bachelor party (complete success)
• Waking up real hungover and lazing about Colver's watching baseball and cracking jokes
• Finishing up Warren Ellis' collection of essays/columns Come In Alone
• Off camping in Denali by Byers Lake with the Crewnit
• Chilling in Talkeetna for lunch with the Crewnit (Denali Brewing Co...cool, but not as good as I hoped it to be)
• Relaxing and taking care of business

Hannah, Lorna and Amy - repping Alaska at Byers Lake

As I said, this weekend was a big one as not only were there large events to partake in, but it signified change. Friday night was Colver's bachelor party as he will be getting married August 29th, and will be the last of my best friends to get married. Not only that but our camping trip was Hannah's last big Alaskan adventure before she moves to New York and possibly Amy's last, as it is looking like she will move soon as well. All in all, lots of change coming. Two best friends moving, two best friends getting married (to each other no less! What the hell?!).

What does that mean for me? Is it time to up the maturity level and start pursuing major life milestones myself? Time to find the woman of my dreams and to settle down, or at the very least move and find my calling in life?

Nah.

I'm having fun. I'll change when that stops, or something better comes up. Until then I'll just keep doing what I do until that stops working for me.

The Weekend Edition

Another great summer weekend, one full of crazy times and lazy times, just the mix that I like. It's raining now, but after a lengthy period of know rain whatsoever, good ol' Alaska needed it badly. Did that damper the weekend? No way!

• Getting back on track at the gym with Joanne
• Making a tasty dinner with Amy and Joanne
• Buckaroo Club for darts and shuffleboard with Amy and Joanne (and some new friends!)
• Early breakfast at Middle Way Cafe with Sheri
• Harry Potter again with my mom (worked better the second time)
• Working a GCI event - fun!
• Moose's Tooth before Citizen Cope with a number of fun folks
• Great night out at the Pio and the Avenue with Amy and assorted others (note to self: am no longer allowed to go to Middle Way or Snow City)
• Lazy Sunday with Amy, chilling and watching the OC

So yeah, it was a very eventful weekend with standard hijinks and David-isms. Whether that is a regrettable thing or not, I was entertained throughout.

Strangely though, the highlight for the weekend was Amy and I jumping back on the OC bandwagon and mowing through half of season 4 on Sunday. We were both fans of the first and second seasons of the show, but the third one completely sucked so we both bailed. After a long delay in watching the fourth season, Amy and I finally started it up and I am only slightly ashamed to say it is pretty brilliant.

It's like Josh Schwartz spent the season between season 3 and season 4 figuring out everything that didn't work about the show and what did work, and then set out to make the good happen again. By removing perpetual downer Marissa and replacing her with the strange and enigmatic Kaitlyn (her younger and less lame sister) and the perpetually chipper and remarkably charming Taylor Townsend, the show reversed almost entirely and came back as something that is hip, fun and emotionally truthful again.

It's too bad it took one entire abomination of a season that must have crippled the shows ratings to figure that out, but at least we're left with this stellar season. Who knows though...there are 8 episodes left. The rest of it could be terrible. Zombie Marissa could enter the show, furious at Ryan and Taylor and thirsting for revenge (and brains!). Actually, on second thought, I kind of hope that happens.

The Weekend Edition (Brian and Morgan's Wedding Edition)

This weekend was completely dominated by Brian and Morgan's wedding and the surrounding activities. It was a great weekend, not only because it is always wonderful to see a friend get married, but because that means my best friends are in town and fun is sure to be around every corner. So what happened?

• Bachelor party!
• Feeling like death for seemingly an entire day
• Awesome rehearsal dinner at Sullivan's
• Saturday Market and delicious Tia's dogs with Kim and Todd
• Wedding time!
• Out on the town after the wedding with seemingly everyone
• Snow City with the Crewnit + Todd
• Hiking to Hidden Lake with Todd, Erik, and the New York Duo

I was going to get into all of the details of the weekend, but I realized that would take forever because I write so much. Thankfully, a picture is worth a thousands words, so here are tens of thousands of words to explain for me.

Brian chugging Sambuca (why did he get sick?)

Erik, myself, and Brian before we head to the hotel

Kenny, Brian (does he look pale?), and Erik

Erik and I making terrifying faces with Brian getting sick in the background

Morgan and Brian walking back down the aisle after the ceremony

Colver, Erik, myself, and Brian (with Katie swooping in on the right)

Everyone at the reception

The Secret Meeting!

Myself giving a toast to the bride and groom

Having their cake and eating it too

Brian and Morgan staring deeply into each others eyes

Terry and Barbara

Amy, Kim and Lorna at the reception

Tossing the bouquet action shot!

Tossing the garter action shot!

Matt caught the garter, so I'm pointing at Jackie (she caught the flowers)

The bride, the groom, and the possible future bride and groom?

Brian and Morgan dancing

Yes, I beat up children. Especially Striker.

Get down, get down!

I don't know what is happening here, but it looks like we are having tons of fun

Dance floor! My mom, Katie and Lorna

Myself and Amy on the dance floor

Mike giving Eric a piggy back ride

Katie, myself and Erik

Katie, Erik and myself

Kim, Brian and I looking real tanked

Brian, Johanna and myself at the reception

Awwww yeahhh!!!

Colver breaking it down

Erik and I having a wine chugging contest

Katie coercing the DJ into playing Ghostland Observatory

"Ain't nobody in the sad, sad city!"

"Cruisin' Mos Espa, in my Delorean..."

We just laid it down during "Fett's Vette" by MC Chris

We are doing the Can Can leg kicks...yes...we are drunk

Colver sliding on his knees during AC/DC