Goooood morning kids! How is everyone this fine (and snowy for us Calgarians) morning?

Me? I’m fabulous! First off, I want to say a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful husband… We had a great meal with awesome friends last night. Barry loves “meat on a stick” at Bolero – a Brazilian BBQ place – so I mostly surprised him with an evening there last night. He seemed to enjoy it. I hope this is another incredible year for him.

The countdown is definitely on now, as our cruise is only a couple of days away. We’re very much looking forward to some sun after the recent weather insanity here. Hurricane force winds over the weekend that actually blew our fence door off, combined with a severe winter storm blowing through today, gives us all the reason we need to be counting the minutes down, now! Let’s see, that would be…

The primary reason for this blog post today, however, is a question I’d like to pose to you… Have you had much luck with sneaking alcohol aboard Princess or Royal Caribbean cruise ships? I have done it in the past, but I haven’t attempted it in recent years. Previously, I’d wrap a couple of bottles of wine in my checked baggage (which, quite frankly, I rarely actually check… I drag it on board to avoid dealing with the porters) but this time, for both cruises, I am going to be checking my bags, and attempting to circumvent the high wine prices on board by bringing my own bottles (just a couple) to consume in my room.

So YOUR TURN – Let’s hear your stories!

ps: I can’t believe these cruises will bring me up to 15 in the count, and this is the first time I’ve left absolutely everything (including excursion bookings) until the very last minute. I hope that delay doesn’t come back and bite me in the ass because we miss out on the excursions, or night entertainment we want! (Oasis actually allows you to pre-book the evening entertainment before you board, but we missed it by 1 day… darnit)

CHILI COOK-OFFS

THE INEXPERIENCED CHILI TASTER
Notes From An Inexperienced Chili Tester Named FRANK, who was visiting Texas from the East Coast: “Recently, I was honored to be selected as a judge at a chili cook-off. The original person called in sick at the last moment and I happened to be standing there at the judge’s table asking directions to the beer wagon, when the call came. I was assured by the other two judges (Native Texans) that the chili wouldn’t be all that spicy, and besides, they told me I could have free beer during the tasting. So I accepted.”

Here are the scorecards from the event:
____________________________________________________
CHILI # 1 MIKE’S MANIAC MOBSTER MONSTER CHILI
JUDGE ONE: A little too heavy on tomato. Amusing kick.
JUDGE TWO: Nice, smooth tomato flavor. Very mild.
FRANK: Holy shit, what the hell is this stuff? You could remove dried paint from your driveway. Took me two beers to put the flames out. I hope that’s the worst one. These Texans are crazy.
____________________________________________________
CHILI # 2 ARTHUR’S AFTERBURNER CHILI
JUDGE ONE: Smokey, with a hint of pork. Slight Jalapeno tang.
JUDGE TWO: Exciting BBQ flavor, needs more peppers to be taken seriously.
FRANK: Keep this out of the reach of children I’m not sure what I am supposed to taste besides pain. I had to wave off two people who wanted to give me the Heimlich maneuver.
They had to rush in more beer when they saw the look on my face.
____________________________________________________
CHILI # 3 FRED’S FAMOUS BURN DOWN THE BARN CHILI
JUDGE ONE: Excellent firehouse chili! Great kick. Needs more beans.
JUDGE TWO: A beanless chili, a bit salty, good use of peppers.
FRANK: Call the EPA, I’ve located a uranium spill. My nose feels like I have been snorting Drano. Everyone knows the routine by now get me more beer before I ignite. Barmaid pounded me on the back; now my backbone is in the front part of my chest. I’m getting shit-faced from all the beer.
____________________________________________________
CHILI # 4 BUBBA’S BLACK MAGIC
JUDGE ONE: Black bean chili with almost no spice. Disappointing.
JUDGE TWO: Hint of lime in the black beans. Good side dish for fish or other mild foods, not much of a chili.
FRANK: I felt something scraping across my tongue, but was unable to taste it, is it possible to burnout taste buds? Sally, the barmaid, was standing behind me with fresh refills; that 300 lb. Bitch is starting to look HOT, just like this nuclear waste I’m eating. Is chili an aphrodisiac?
____________________________________________________
CHILI # 5 LINDA’S LEGAL LIP REMOVER
JUDGE ONE: Meaty, strong chili. Cayenne peppers freshly ground, adding considerable kick. Very Impressive.
JUDGE TWO: Chili using shredded beef, could use more tomato. Must admit the cayenne peppers make a strong statement.
FRANK: My ears are ringing, sweat is pouring off my forehead and I can no longer focus my eyes. I farted and four people behind me needed paramedics. The contestant seemed offended when I told her that her chili had given me brain damage, Sally saved my tongue from bleeding by pouring beer directly on it from a pitcher. I wonder if I’m burning my lips off? It really pisses me off that the other judges asked me to stop screaming. Screw those rednecks!
____________________________________________________
CHILI # 6 VERA’S VERY VEGETARIAN VARIETY
JUDGE ONE: Thin yet bold vegetarian variety chili. Good balance of spice and peppers.
JUDGE TWO: The best yet. Aggressive use of peppers, onions, and garlic.Superb.
FRANK: My intestines are now a straight pipe filled with gaseous, sulfuric flames. I shit myself when I farted and I’ m worried it will eat through the chair. No one seems inclined to stand behind me except that slut Sally.She must be kinkier than I thought. Can’t feel my lips anymore. I need to wipe my ass with a snow cone!
____________________________________________________
CHILI # 7 SUSAN’S SCREEMING SENSATION CHILI
JUDGE ONE: A mediocre chili with too much reliance on canned peppers.
JUDGE TWO: Ho Hum, tastes as if the chef literally threw in a can of chili peppers at the last moment. I should take note that I am worried about Judge Number 3, He appears to be in a bit of distress as he is cursing uncontrollably.
FRANK: You could put a grenade in my mouth, pull the pin, and I wouldn’t feel a damn thing. I’ve lost sight in one eye, and the world sounds like it is made of rushing water. My shirt is covered with chili, which slid unnoticed out of my mouth. My pants are full of lava-like shit to match my damn shirt. At least during the autopsy they’ll know what killed me. I’ve decided to stop breathing; it’s too painful. Screw it. I’m not getting any oxygen anyway. If I need air, I’ll just suck it in through the 4-inch hole in my stomach.
____________________________________________________
CHILI # 8 LESTER’S LAST OF THE RED-HOT LOVER’S CHILI
JUDGE ONE: A perfect ending, this is a nice blend chili, safe for all, not too bold but spicy enough to declare it’s existence.
JUDGE TWO: This final entry is a good, balanced chili. Neither mild nor hot. Sorry to see that most of it was lost when Judge Number 3 passed out, fell over and pulled the chili pot down on top of himself. Not sure if he’s going to make it. Poor Yank, wonder how he’d have reacted to a really good one!
____________________________________________________

This hilarious video was sent to me by my Uncle Barney – I have no idea why he’d think I’d find it funny [grin]! Have an awesome weekend everyone!

YOUR TURN! What are you up to, this fine wintery weekend?

I (Raul) will be liveblogging the wedding (starting around 5:30pm PST – the actual ceremony is at 6:00pm). This post is the placeholder. You can start reading the live-tweets below (I had to use CoverItLive because ScribbleLive isn’t working properly). I will also update this post with little snippets and quotes, as well as photos. If you take photos and put them up on Flickr please tag them “netchickweds” as well so I can find them easily. It should be a great day!

UPDATE: 9:45 am – I am testing the CoverItLive liveblog. If it doesn’t work well, I’ll just update this post as I’ve done in the past with other liveblogs. Can’t wait!

UPDATE: 4:30 pm – I need to be at the wedding location in 30 minutes, so I’m just publishing the post right now!

UPDATE: 6:00 pm – The Bollwitts (Rebecca and John), the Biehlers (Stacie and John), the Millers (Airdrie and Derek), Catherine Winters, Gus and Russ are all here. We are aboard the boat and waiting for the groom and bride.

UPDATE: 6:15 pm – The bride and groom are here!!!

UPDATE: 6:30 pm – I will be ustreaming so I can’t liveblog while that happens. Will update soon!

UPDATE: 7:11 pm – Tanya and Barry are now husband and wife!!!

UPDATE: 8:22 pm – We just finished dinner, and at some point I’m going to roam Flickr to find photos tagged #netchickweds.

the wedding

Thanks to TimeLapseHD on YouTube for this… It’s incredible. I saw it last night on the news and had to share it!

Enjoy!

…Tanya

I’m dealing with a somewhat broken, and very out-of-date theme I created years ago.

So, I’ve temporarily put this theme up to fix the comment problems some people are having.

The new site design will be up soon!

Carry on…

Hi kids! It’s been a long, and relaxing day here on the Pacific Ocean.

It’s now 10:15pm Alaska time, and Laurie has been ill for most of the day (poor girl) so I’ve spent most of the day lounging and enjoying the scenery.

Tonight, I elected to go somewhat formal, but not to the extreme… This cruise seems to be filled with mainly relaxed (older) people, and most haven’t dressed to the nines for the formal nights… I wore a lace skirt and matching blazer. I ended up fitting right in.

Later this evening, I tried my luck at a blackjack tournament ($10… and lost miserably) but decided to continue and see if my luck changed, and wouldn’t you know it? It did! My $50 turned into $200. I wisely walked away at that point, so at least I was up a little!

At this point, I’m trying to decide if I want to go to sleep, (Laurie is sleeping, so I can’t go and watch tv in the room) or watch the comedian. I think I’ll go for the comedy…

Hope everyone else had a lovely day, too! Don’t forget to tell your friends about the MEET n’ GREET! It’s started above…

MISS you guys! xoxo!

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You can always find SOMETHING to smile about…

I’ve seen this on several blogs recently, and it never fails to bring a smile to my face. Even on a Monday.

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Welcome, everyone! Continuing where the lovely Michele left off… Here’s your Weekend Meet n’ Greet!

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Thank you to the wonderful people who play multiple times, each of you are guilty of spreading lots of comment cheer – hugs from me.

Spread the Comment Cheer!

How to play:

1. Leave a comment here that says hello.
2. Now, go visit the person who commented above you, leave a comment on their site that includes the oft-repeated tagline: Hello, Michele NetChick sent me.

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And YES, of course you are invited to play often. As you know, Michele always encouraged this, and so do I!

A few weeks ago, I went up to Cypress to enjoy some snow, some giggles, some awesome chocolate fondue, and some exercise.

Wow, let me emphasize the exercise part! It was only about 3 weeks after my half marathon adventure, so my knee still wasn’t 100% — But, despite the discomfort, I was able to manage, and enjoy, the journey.

We started out our mini-trek at about 6:30 from the Nordic Area of Cypress Mountain… After putting on the yeti shoes, of course. It was a full moon that evening, and man was it beautiful… I had asked Chris (Monica The Army Mascot movie allan quatermain and the temple of skulls download free this is england online

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, and Josh.

During our journey to our destination — a warm hut full of chocolate fondue and dipping goodness — our guide regaled us with all sorts of really cool facts about the area, and hiking safety in general. I found this part the most interesting (and not just because we’d stopped so I could catch my breath and remove another layer of sweaty clothing).

We ended up spending almost an hour at the hut, enjoying the fondue and laughing with the other 10 or so people that were on the adventure (including the sexy chicks from SexyinVancity.com War, Inc. divx who were also enjoying the night), before heading back down the mountain.

I actually found the trek back down (only 20 minutes or so, versus the 45 minutes up) a lot easier once I’d had some sugar in my system… Sugar high, anyone?

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I’d HIGHLY recommend this night out for anyone who enjoys snow, a little exercise, and relaxing by a warm fire while enjoying some fondue. Thanks so much to Cypress Mountain for putting this on for us! More information about this snowshoeing tour, and others available on Cypress, click here.

Your turn: Have you been snowshoeing lately? Where did you go?

I want to write about several things in the next couple of days…

Including: Prozac Nation

1. My snowshoeing adventure (thanks to Cypress Mountain)
2. A review of my new Fuji S2000HD camera (thanks to Fuji, and Agent Wildfire)
3. My first coaching call (with the lovely and talented Jennifer Priest)
4. The upcoming THIRD TUESDAY with Steve Jagger co-founder of Ubertor.com and Reachd.com
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But I will! Stay tuned…

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I hopped onto Twitter today, and couldn’t believe what I saw… Several separate (and unique) threads of people flaming others. What the hell?!

…Did I miss the clock turning back to a time when we were five years old again? Can people not use a filter? Just because you are behind a computer screen, and not talking directly to someone, doesn’t mean your human decency skills should go out the window.

Rude, nasty people just suck. And, I’m exercising my right to filter that crap out. [unfollow]

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I want to live vicariously through you, dear visitor, since I seem to have formed a strange case of adult-onset ADD (I’m only half kidding), and can’t seem to concentrate long enough to read anything more than a magazine article (and that was business-related) in the past several weeks. I know it’ll pass, but I’m missing my novel ‘fix’!

So… Share! Tell me what I’m missing!

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Just in time for the weekend…

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And, I can totally see me in this particular photo: (heh!)

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What are you looking forward to, this weekend? Jaws 2 download Me? Getting together with a friend tonight, cleaning up my house and taking care of everything I’ve been procrastinating on lately, tomorrow (it’s National ‘End-The-Procrastination Day’ at my place tomorrow!). Sunday, I’m looking forward to getting together with friends for brunch — Yay, brunch! I know I have plans for Sunday night, but hell if I can remember what they were at the moment. Must be old age setting in!

I hope you have an awesome weekend, no matter what you get up to!

Heheh… I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did!

What are you looking forward to, this weekend? I’m totally excited about the VIRGIN launch party tomorrow night — The lovely Christine won four tickets, and Buzz gave me 2 (thanks Buzz!), so there’s 6 of us heading over to Richards on Richards to see Katy Perry

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with 300 other Virgin Radio fans! Should be a blast! I’ll post photos on Sunday, for sure!

Sunday, my friend Darren is coming over so that I can unlock his iPhone for him (finally… we’ve been waiting for a software unlock to come out for a while now), and then I’m heading over to his place to celebrate something to do with haggis? Oh, right… Robert Burn’s Day. Those Scots sure have a funny way of celebrating! It’s sure to be a lot of fun, despite the haggis.

Whatever you get up to, I hope it’s awesome!

ps: Don’t forget to come back and play the MEET n’ GREET this weekend! I love all the new faces in the mix — Let’s spread the word!

Today is the start of a good week, I can feel it.

I woke up on the right side of the bed this morning, the sun is shining, and there are very few stresses in my life to look forward to dealing with this week.

What more can I ask for…

Did you have a good weekend?

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I deliberately didn’t make any plans for tonight, because I was craving alone time at home… But, now I’m regretting that decision.

I’m bored to tears! Well, that may be a bit exaggerated, but still — B.O.R.E.D.

Tomorrow is a busy day, so maybe I’ll get to bed early tonight. I haven’t gotten a really long sleep in weeks — Perhaps tonight I will?

What are you looking forward to, this weekend?

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THREE road blocks! I had to drive through 3 distinct checks tonight… And for that, I’m totally thankful.

I just got home, and called Jason and Zoe to let them know I got here safely despite the snow falling (again).

Happy birthday Z! I hope you had a great birthday! I had a fabulous time tonight!

What did you get up to, to ring in the new year?

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I don’t do New Years resolutions — In fact, I don’t often find myself reflecting on the past year at New Years at all.

Maybe I’m weird?

I think that planning a bunch of life-altering changes all at once set people up for failure. I used to feel obligated because of the calendar date to make a large list of resolutions, but I’ve come to learn that it’s not healthy for me to do this. They rarely stick, when incorporated with other changes at the same time.

It doesn’t take the roll-over of a new year for me to look within me and figure out what needs to change — I do that most days. If anything, it’s my birthday that I find is my season of review… But, I never try to instigate a ton of changes all at once at that time either.

How about you? Do you make New Years resolutions? Do they usually work out?

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Phew, I’m going to need a vacation from socializing after this holiday season is over! The last few events/parties I’ve been at, I can see the look on most of the other faces too — We’re all tired.

But, I had a fabulous time… And, I only hope I’m this lucky with the opportunities to get out and have some fun and meet new people, next year.

Today is the last day of work for me until the 30th (a week off… YAY!) but I have plenty of personal stuff at home to catch up on. You see, I’m rolling out a new professional blog just after New Years, so I need to put some time into that.

What’s your plan for the rest of the holidays? Are you working any more between now and New Years?

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Have a great Tuesday, guys!