a guy and a bee
a collection of random thoughts and ideas from me, her, and sometimes us
mission accomplished!
last week, bee and i went to to see mission impossible: ghost protocol. we ended up seeing it in IMAX at the AMC in Columbia. i always try to go to late morning or early afternoon movies to avoid large crowds so we found ourselves at the 12:30 showing. it was the first movie theatre visit for bee in at least 2 years and her first time ever at an IMAX showing. we both really enjoyed the movie although her feet didnt touch the floor while sitting all the way back in the chair. haha.
quick review: overall, it was a pretty good action movie and one of the better ones that i have seen lately. they worked in many of the things mission impossible has been known for over the years like face masks. if you are a fan of the series, like i am, you will be pleased with that part. tom cruise continued his role as ethan hunt and was good in this one as well. jeremy renner’s character, william brandt, was weaved into the plot line nicely and without making you question the prior movies or what he was doing there. the other member’s of ethan’s team worked out well and rounded out the story, as well as the bad guy. the story line and the bad guy’s attempt at destroying the world are something we can all see based on the world’s current events and wasn’t as far fetched as it could’ve been. i was a little worried about simon pegg, who played benji dunn, and was the goofy tech guy who couldn’t pass the field ops tests but eventually did after repeated tries. pegg is known more of his comedic value and although he did add a few good jokes every now and then, played the role in the movie well. one thing, i didn’t like was the intro into the movie. as the beginning credits rolled, you basically got to see small clips of the movie throughout intermingled with credits for the actors in the movie. it gave away a little too much of the movie in my opinion.
the movie in IMAX is the way to go if you have one near you and can afford it. we had some gift certificates that bee had gotten from work, so we paid the extra $10 for the IMAX viewing. the sound and the locations of the movie are really enhanced because of it, but i am sure it would look good in standard definition as well.
one hint for families or folks who don’t want to spend a lot on concessions, buy the kids pack. you’ll get a small soda, small popcorn, and fruit snacks for just $6.25 and if you use the bathroom before the start of the movie, you won’t have to get up part way through the film.
hocoblogs@@@
happy holidays!
merry christmas and happy holidays! i know this is a couple days late, but we hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and are ready for the new year. we had a very nice christmas and got to spend some nice time with my side of our family.
we’ve been dog sitting for some college friends of ours so it’s been a different way to spend the week running around playing with the dog. since we are both off all week it hasn’t been too bad to keep her entertained, but as you might expect, she follows us everywhere.
anyway, hope you all have had a great holiday season and preparing for a great 2012. maybe we’ll do a new years resolution blog sometime soon!
hocoblogs@@@
might change the blog name…
So recently Bee got interested in blogging and I told her that she could blog on my blog instead of starting a new one. I guess with her posting some soon, I might have to change the name of my blog since she isn’t exactly 28 like me. Thinking about some new names so if you have any suggestions feel free to past them along.
It should be a fun experiment and maybe we will be more consistent on posting!
holiday traditions
what kind of holiday traditions do you have?
having been married almost 2 years now, bee and i are starting to develop our new own holiday traditions. one of our favorite traditions i detailed last week about going to cut down a christmas tree. one of bee’s other traditions is to be the first to mail out our christmas cards. it’s a point of pride for her when someone tells her that our christmas/holiday cards were the first to arrive in the mailbox. this year she wrote them out on the morning of thanksgiving. i think one holiday tradition alot of folks partake in is cookie baking. we’ve gone the fresh fudge route and probably next friday or saturday, bee will make 10 – 15 pounds of different types of fudge for our family members. i know my folks always look forward to it and it always gets rave reviews (and makes me put on a few pounds, haha). i think certainly as we get older and our family continues to grow, we will certainly have more traditions to enjoy, but those are a few of ours so far. i always enjoy watching “a christmas story” all day long on TBS but that isn’t exactly a “family” tradition, haha!
growing up our tradition was to always sit at the top of the steps and take a photo together before we went down to open our presents. this tradition probably continued until we went to college. we started to loathe these photos as we got older, but it’s something we can look back now as we are grown adults and appreciate.
one last wonderful holiday tradition we have in our household is to celebrate my birthday all week 😉 on the 29th, i will turn 29. interesting how time flies by these days.
hocoblogs@@@
oh, christmas tree, oh, christmas tree
every year, christmas is a big deal in our household, especially the last few now that we have gotten married. in our first year of living together, we went and picked a tree off the lot and since then we have cut one down. bee always had fake trees as a kid so now that she can a real one, we take full advantage of it. this year, broken rib and all, bee and i made the trek out yesterday to pine valley farms. it’s off of 70 and 97 in skyesville for those of you reading this that are in maryland.
our first time out, we used one of the saws that the farm will let you borrow for $20 (you get the money back when you return the saw). we quickly found out that although tradition is great, bringing the sawz all that i got the next christmas to cut down the tree was the best idea we stumbled upon. as you might now, bee is a go getter and one time when she cutting down the tree, a fellow tree cutter downer brought over his sawz all for us to use. made quick great work of the tree.
here is bee on the hunt for the best douglas fir on the the tree farm. last year, our eyes were bigger than our living room so we knew we had to go for something that wasn’t as wide this year, much to her dismay. we looked for something in the 7-8 foot range.
once we found the right tree after walking several aisles, we got down to business. a great tip for those that might be new to christmas tree cutting down, bring an old blanket or sheet that you might use around the house for painting, etc. it makes a great location for you to lay on and get under the tree as you cut it down. keeps the mud, grass, and pine needles off of you. those of of you that are clean freaks like we are, it’s a great tip. don’t forget to wear old clothes too. it’s not a fashion show out there!
once bee made short work of cutting it down, it was over to shaking, bundling, and back to the car. unfortunately, the bundling got screwed up so we had to re-tie the string so it would stay bundled. we made the decision, after bee carried the tree back to the car, to put it inside instead of on roof because of my limited mobility to get the tree over my head and secured properly on top of the car.
cut down and pre-bundled
bundled and in the car
(yes, i had to vacuum my car because of it. boo.)
you have to let it fall
once you get the tree inside and setup, you have to let the branches fall back to their natural place. we started decorating a few hours later. (and i was watching the LSU/Georgia game, haha.)
lights are on
decorated! looking good!
nice skirt!
that is our new tree skirt that we splurged on at the end of the season last year. one of our friends had the similar tree skirt and we really liked it so we ended up getting ours and bee is very excited about it. we were using a traditional skirt that looked like the regular red stockings with white trim, but we wanted to get a little fancier going forward! so now the tree is up, the house is decorated and the stockings were hung (with care) by the fireplace. feels like christmas, although it was around 60 degrees today!
we also started a neat new tradition once we get the tree home a few years ago. we cut off a small ring from the bottom of the tree and save it. right now it’s above the fireplace drying out and will go into a glass jar we have in our dining room as we collect more and more rings from years of celebrating our favorite holiday. (all these photos were taken on my phone, not too shabby!)
hocoblogs@@@
where to eat
I don’t know about y’all but it feels like lately we have been eating out more than usual and it is usually the same old haunts every time. This is probably a result of my back injury and my wife being out of town on a semi regular basis for the last few months. It is also partially my fault because I mainly eat American and Italian foods and it’s easy to stick with what you know. I am not a fan of beans or rice really and try to stay away from spicy foods so it eliminates alot of options.
So to try to help spice things up, I am looking for something different than my regular haunts. Any suggestions out there? Preferably in Howard County, but anywhere in the close proximity would be fine. If you follow my blog on its somewhat regular basis, you will know that I am certainly a fan of pizza!
hocofood@@@
thankful
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! This time of the year everyone writes posts about what they are thankful for and I could do the same. I can tell you that I am thankful for my wife, family, friends, having a job, and all those great things. And I am thankful for those things, but lately I am just thankful when I fell and fractured my ribs two Sundays ago, I didn’t hit my head.
I was home alone and my wife had been out of town all week when, as we have been calling it, I went splat. Slipped went aerial and came down on my ribs on the side of the tub. So as of lately and as I continue to recover, I am thankful I didn’t hit my head as well as the fact that my dad drove me to the hospital.
It was “The Great Fall of 2011” and it wasn’t glorious but wasn’t the worst it could have been.
Hope everyone has a joyous holiday today and takes care. If you see me out, pass on the hug as my ribs are still pretty sore!
(The attached photo is what’s left of the bruise on my arm. My back didn’t bruise surprisingly.)
hocoblogs@@@
no, i wasn’t texting while driving
has anyone noticed that everyone is still texting while driving? la
st year, maryland took the first steps into the giving out fines for texting while driving, but it was a secondary offense so no one really cared. now this year, back in october, the new texting law went into affect and yet everyone is still texting while driving.
on a daily basis, i see lots of people texting while driving (myself included on occasion). the most interesting person i’ve notice that are texting while driving is the police. all levels of police, local, state, auxiliary, etc. and all the time. i guess no one, including law enforcement, still cares about the new texting while driving law in maryland.
per the baltimore sun politics blog on sept 30th:
Drivers who are ticketed can still choose to accept guilt and pay a $70 fine (plus one point on their license). If the texting leads to an accident, accepting guilt means an automatic $110 fine and three points.
Drivers who contest the tickets and lose in court will be guilty of a misdemeanor and have to pay the full $500.
guess everyone will just plead guilty and not care about the fine/point if they get caught? i’ll pass. not worth the point or the fine.
oh yeah, and don’t forget to watch out for new speed cameras in Howard County! locations are listed on the police website and it’s a $40 fine if caught.
hocoblogs@@@
dinner and a movie
But not together. Last week my wife was out of town ruling the world and doing a great job at her job. Meanwhile, I was home making the bacon as we like to joke especially since she doesn’t eat bacon. Sometimes on my off Fridays I will catch an early movie and this past Friday, I caught Tower Heist. It stars Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, and a host of other characters. It’s a cross between a comedy and a heist movie. The basic premise is the same as the Bernie Madoff case. The Madoff like character doesn’t sell any of his assets and gets to say in his apartment on house arrest. Ben Stiller’s character and his co-workers break into the apartment and the movie continues from there. It was probably a B movie. Entertaining and some what light hearted but semi serious at other times.
Meanwhile after a week of dinners out, I continued my gluttony and caught dinner at a new pizza place for me called Pazani. It was suggested here on my blog and since we all know I love pizza, I went and checked it out. It’s off of Marshalee Dr. by Timbers of Troy Golf Course. The restaurant is a nice family friendly atmosphere and is like Trattoria da Enrico or many of the other local pizza places; however, they have a larger selection and a catering menu. The restaurant was a little smaller than I had expected from looking at the menu and there were about 5 or 6 other groups there, mostly with families, and they filled up the majority of the restaurant. Anyway, I got the small pizza with sausage… a standard for me. It was pretty tasty and had a nice crisp crust. It seemed a little greaser than some other places but it didn’t really sway me away from going back if I am in the area.
As a lone wolf that night, I enjoyed my pizza and caught a look at what others were eating. Many people had different varieties of pasta meals which also looked good and others of course had pizza. One group had the calamari which was a generous portion and others had the cheese steak and salads. The regular menu and the catering menu had a large selection so you could go often and get something different to eat there or for a party at your house. I will definitely go back again.
Also, thanks to @howchowblog for linking to my other pizza article earlier in the week.
hocofood@@@
old friends
It’s interesting living in the same community that you grew up in. Although I grew up in Ellicott City and now live in Columbia, we all visit the same places because it’s essentially one in the same in Howard County.
Lately, I’ve seen alot of the people I grew up with. I ran into an old high school friend at Bagel Bin two weeks ago when I was grabbing breakfast randomly on my day off. Then this past Saturday I saw another old friend at the Columbia Mall and we were reminiscing about when we came to the mall as kids and it was the cool thing to do. Now it sometimes seems more like a chore. Interesting how things have changed. She also has 3 kids so things have really changed from when we middle schoolers riding the bus to school.
My mom even went to a baby shower for an old friend of mine whose wife is having their first child next month. All of our close friends’ moms were there updating everyone on each others kids so in less than 2 weeks, I’ve gotten updates on half of the kids I grew up with. With that and my lifelong best friend living in DC, it is a small world.
Unfortunately our 10 year high school reunion got cancelled so I will just have to see all those other kids around town instead.
hocoblogs@@@
hey there
a guy and a bee 