Honeymoon

I got some pictures from the honeymoon up.
You can read more to learn all about our trip.We stayed in Ann Arbor after the wedding and drove to Petoskey the next day. We stayed at the Perry Hotel in downtown Petoskey. Our first night there was New Years Eve, so the hotel resturant was booked. Instead we went down the Noggin Room, which is a pub in the basement. There was a group of locals at the table next to us who bought us a bottle of champagne.

New Years Day we had wedding cake and leftover champagne for first breakfast and walked the few blocks to St. Francis Xavier. After mass we went to the hotel resturant and had the Sunday brunch. It was kinda expensive, but well worth it. The first table had a cheese spread, punch and shrimp cocktail. Behind that was the desert table with pies, cakes, and mousse. The next table was the hot buffet with: eggs, potatoes, eggs bennidict, chicken cordon blue, salmon, bacon, sausage, and Belgian waffles with cherry and blueberry preserves. The last table had two chefs that were doing made to order omlets and were carving ham and roast beef. Needless to say we took our time and enjoyed brunch. That evening we looked around downtown Petoskey. The shops were all closed, but we noted what we wanted to check out. For dinner we went to The City Park Grill and had soup and and appetizers.

Monday we got up and went XC-Skiing along the beach at Petoskey State Park. We had lunch at Chandler's and spent the rest of the day wandering around downtown.

Tuesday we went and got Tom new XC-Ski Poles because he broke one a few weeks and was using his backup pair. We then went to a little diner for lunch. That night for dinner we went to Latitude in Bay Harbor. To start we had thai shrimp spring rolls and a soup sampler. Tom had Fire Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Polenta, Red Wine Crimini Mushroom Sauce, Fried Sage Leaves. Bridgit had Grouper in a tomato sauce with mashed potatoes.

Before we checked out the next day we had breakfast at the H.O. Rose dining room again. We split:
Cherry Swirl French Toast “Inn Baked” cherry-cinnamon swirl bread dipped in vanilla batter, grilled golden brown; topped with “Rocky Top” cherry butter and warm Michigan maple syrup
and
Northern Michigan Omelette Sauteed Michigan morels, locally smoked whitefish and leeks in a three-egg omelette topped with swiss cheese.

What is cool in the world (of warcraft)

Some of you may know that my undergrad work was in the arena of Anthropology. A couple years back there was a cool study on the economics of Everquest. Last year I thought about doing a independant study anthro class in WoW. Boss Bob showed me this link the other day. Apparently at Trinity Uniersity. They have an class called “Games for the Web: Ethnography of Massively Multiplayer On-line Games”

Pride and Hatred

So today the new Pride and Prejudice movie comes out. This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:

“Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to dig Jane Austin's body and beat her over the skull with her own shinbone.” -Mark Twain

Engaged Encounter

This past weekend Bridgit went on our Engaged Encounter in Jackson, MI. The retreat was pretty cool. Some of the material we had already covered in other things. The NFP Class that was supposed to happen afterwards was canceled, so we were bummed (it is all we have left to do).

If you aren't familiar with what it takes to get married The Church usually has certain prerequisites for getting married. In our Diocese (Lansing) and the Parish we are getting married in we have to do:

  • be engaged for 9 months
  • We C.A.R.E Communication Class
  • NFP Class
  • FOCUS Couple where we do an inventory of topics/issues
  • Catholic Information Series

Spanish Reds – Friday October 7th 2005

Here is the wrap-up of the Wine-O’s Spanish Red adventure. We had a good turn out for such short notice. As is sometimes the case the more expensive wines are more interesting, but not as drinkable. We had a spectacular chocolate-orange cake to celebrate John Romond’s birthday. Below is the lineup and the group decided ratings.
Sight 0-4
Nose 0-6
Flavor 0-6
Overall 0-4
Total out of 20 possible points

Wine #1 Montecillo Gran Reserva 1996
Price: $24
Region: Rioja
Sight: 3 Copper edges, good color and clarity.
Nose: 4 Pepper, strawberry jam.
Flavor: 3.5 Cherry, light mouth feel, and tart apple.
Overall: 2.5 Low tannins and smoothness make this a easy to drink pleasant wine. .
Total: 13

Wine #2 Condado de Haza 2001
Price: $26
Region: Ribera Del Duero
Sight: 2 Consistent ruby color. Long thin legs.
Nose: 3 Pungent (manure) at first, mellowing after exposure. Giving way for anise and candied cherry.
Flavor: 4 Dry and rough that also mellowed after exposure.
Overall: 3 A wine that needs decanting, or shelf time.
Total: 12

Wine #3 Condesa de Leganza Crianza 1999
Price: $9
Region: La Mancha
Sight: 3 Purple berry color.
Nose: 3 Carmel. Small presence.
Flavor: 5 Warm feeling. Rich.
Overall: 3 Accessible; Typical Spanish Red.
Total: 14

Wine #4 Campos Reales Tempranillo 2003
Price: $9
Region: La Mancha
Sight: 3.5 Brilliant color.
Nose: 4 Microwave buttered popcorn. Sweet decay. Flinty.
Flavor: 4 Tannin, heavy fruit. Warm in front. Swampy or mushroomy.
Overall: 3.5 “stunt” wine, pleasing and complex without being too much so.
Total: 15

Wine #5 Torres Sangre de Toro 50 aniversario 2003
Region: Barcelona
Sight: 2 Blood color.
Nose: 3 Chile Pepper.
Flavor: 3 Mild mannered.
Overall: 2.5 Good cold weather wine.
Total: 10.5