• So maybe, no more shrimp, eh?

    I think maybe seafood doesn’t agree with me anymore.

    Let me backtrack a bit. I used to love fried shrimp. Love, I say. You know those Sizzler all-you-can-eat deals? Yeah. I was all over that.

    My tastes have become only slightly more sophisticated over the years, and I don’t eat shrimp as often anymore. My last experience with the little batter-dipped sea bugs was a try at some “coconut shrimp,” which I wrote off as being too sickly-sweet to, er, stomach. I blamed my upset tummy on the combination, not on the wee crustaceans themselves.

    Last night, though, a group of us trekked out to Red Lobster in Beaverton to celebrate Lil’s birthday. (Among the many, many snarky jokes: “Hardcore Prawn.” Yes, we’re a dorky bunch.) I had the steak-and-shrimp platter. Nice, boring deep-fried shrimp. No problem, right?

    Well, not last night, no. This morning was another story entirely. Bleah. I’m most decidedly under the weather today. Queasy as all get-out. (Luckily nothing truly disgusting has come of it. Yet.) The only thing I can guess is that maybe, just maybe, my body doesn’t like shrimp anymore. Hell, maybe it doesn’t like all seafood anymore.

    Damn. I guess there’s one more thing off the menu. I’ll have to survive on steaks, pork ribs, pizza, omelettes, potatos, salads… oh, well, I guess it’s not so bad after all, eh?

    Mind you, what the hell I’m going to order from McCormack & Schmick’s tomorrow night is anyone’s guess…

  • Shaken, not stirred?

    Thanks, kimberkit

    How to make a GreyDuck
    Ingredients:

    5 parts anger

    5 parts silliness

    3 parts joy

    Method:
    Add to a cocktail shaker and mix vigorously. Serve with a slice of curiosity and a pinch of salt. Yum!
  • A brief display of tact.

    Tact, they say, is remembering a woman’s birthday but forgetting her age. So I wish Lilith a very happy birthday… however old she is! (And hey, you should too.)

  • Grey, meet Gray.

    So this guy, he goes Googling for the name of a song he’s listening to at the time. The song’s called “Ball and Chain.” Turns out the top Google result for that phrase is, well, the ex-wife’s blog.

    And then he and his buddy notice something. Namely, that my website domain bears a striking resemblance to, well, his buddy’s own domain.

    And then, and boy do I know how to tell a story, he emails me (and his buddy) about it. We’ve been exchanging semi-snarky email for the last few hours, out of which has come the fact that he works for a radio station cluster in a geek-based role. Who’d have thunk it?

    So what do you think? Does this mean I have a spiritual twin out there somewhere in the wilds of Minnesota? Or is he my Bizarro-world doppelganger? Or is he just another guy who identifies with colorless waterfowl?

    You be the judge! (I’ll be the jury, he can be the executioner!)

  • Virtual cake with virtual candles

    Happy Birthday, Dawn.

    There are all sorts of clever things I want to say here, but I seem unable to choose one. So be it.

    Okay, everybody, get over to her site and wish her a happy day and a great year to come!

  • Easy steps to a good evening with the kids.

    Parenting isn’t always easy, and one could argue that I’m only half a parent now that I don’t live with my kids 24/7. Fine. Be that as it may, sometimes things just come together. This evening’s a case in point:

    • Pizza for dinner
    • Anime on the TV (Fullmetal Alchemist and an episode of the live-action Sailor Moon for Erica)
    • Ice cream after dinner
    • Computer gaming (Age of Mythology: The Titans, three of us teamed against three computer players)
    • Hugs goodnight

    It’s evenings like this that make all those early frustrating years entirely worth it…