May 2006

Sharon shows off movie tickets from our local hook up

Boring and broke! Those are the words that best describe this month. Other than a quick visit to Florida and a couple of birthdays, we really didn’t do anything.

It’s amazing! I’ve been doing this for a while now and we make a decent living. (Or so I thought) For some reason we just can’t stay caught up on bills. I think one reason is that we’ve never done well in the tips department in Georgia. It’s O.K., but, we’re spoiled by the likes of Minnesota, Carolina and now Arizona. Also, Sharon never makes her bonuses here, so her income is down too. So, if you’re a two income family and both of you are making less... well, there ya go! We had also planned on selling our trailer this year. Over the holidays we did some remodeling on the house. (New stainless appliances, living room furniture, etc.) The 30K from the sale of the trailer was supposed to cover that and more. But, Sharon changed her mind about the trailer so now we have even more installment loans to pay off. Thank god I’m a licensed mortgage broker! I’ll pull several thousand equity from the old homestead... pay off a couple bills, and save some for some property investments. (Something I’ve been working on, but can’t talk about just yet. I don’t want to jinx it after all.)

Anyway, enough of the bitching... on to the month’s events! My (party) buddy Jimmie just got out of the service and stopped by on his way down to Florida. So we grabbed our friend Cathy and hit a local bar with some other friends to sing some Karaoke! (Well, I was the only one to sing.) It was fun but as usual we drank entirely too much.

 

Jef sings the hits

Jimmie, Cathy, Sharon and me at karaoke night

A couple days later it was Michaela’s (I’m not sure how she spells her name) birthday. We went to Ru san’s. It’s our favorite all time sushi bar. They have a massive menu filled with everything from $1.00 sushi to really imaginative and delicious sushi rolls. There’s one in Charlotte too if you’re ever inclined to go. There was a nice turnout and Nate from Ten Seconds of Harmony came down from Minnesota. It was great to see him. We love those guys.

 

Sharon looks at Michaela's birthday pics

Ronn crooning the Bday song for Michaela

Dinner at Café Vienna with the gang at home

The next week we made our last trip home for the run of Georgia. We’ll be home for June, but it was still like three or so weeks away. So, we decided to head home and say hi! It was fine. I got a lot done around the house. (Nobody ever takes care of a house like its owner.) I also fixed some problems with the new floor in the Den. (Whoopee) See, like I said, BORING! We did get to go to Café Vienna, though. It’s a German/Austrian restaurant we frequent when in town. I drink giant beers and eat way too much. It seems to be a trend of mine whenever at a German place. (See January's journal.)

Our next stop on this month’s journal is Ronn’s birthday. He turned 41 this year. Not quite the milestone as 40, (mine’s this year, hint-hint) but still important. On the Sunday of his actual birthday our Fan club president helped sneak a table with a birthday cake, balloons and presents onto the stage. It really caught Ronn off guard. Then the Lost Boys got into the act and sang to him. Heck even Ded Bob throughout his little dig. Finally, the Washing Well Wenches jumped in and pied him! What a blast... and, very funny to us and the audience.
[The whole thing is May's "Video Clip of the Month" - you can watch it in Windows Media or in RealMedia]

The next day (Monday) we went to Sabroso. It’s a Tapas restaurant in Little Five Points. If you’ve read my previous journals you know I’m a big fan of Tapas. Who am I kidding; I’m a big fan of FOOD! The food was great, the drinks were good but the service could have been a little better. They crammed us into a corner of the restaurant when the place was mostly empty. Our party racked up nearly a $1000 bill. (No wonder I’m broke.)

 

Ronn's super-long birthday table

The rest of the super-long table

Ronn and Heather at his Bday party

Now, I’ve always been a techno-geek. I love me some electronic gadgets! But, I’ll tell ya’, Ronn’s nippin’ at my heels. He got a PSP (Play Station Personal) and an IPOD. I still find the PSP (I have one) far superior to the IPOD. It does Music, Pictures, Games, Video (on a much larger screen) and can surf the internet thru its WI-FI connection. The only advantage the IPOD has is the hard drive size... they go up to like 60 Gigs. The largest drive to date for the PSP is 4 or 5 but that’s changing too. So, having both, though overkill, is still the best of both worlds. He got some other things, but let’s face it; being a techno-weenie I didn’t really notice them. Oh, we gave him accessories for his new IPOD by the way.

Lastly, I’d like to send a shout out to Frank and Kelly Defeo. They came out to visit from the Charlotte area. They’re part of our extended "family" and are always welcome wherever we are. We had a little impromptu cookout after Saturday’s festival day. Let me tell you, I can make some ribs! (*sound of me patting myself on the back*)

Well, that’s gonna do it for now, I’m just counting the days till we get out of Georgia. I love the state, but I miss my home. Not that the three weeks off in June exactly thrill me and my financial state. But, we’ll muddle on thru, we always do. See ya next month. Who knows... a pizza you order this month might be delivered by me.

 

Tortuga cookout with Jef's awesome ribs!

Riki's dating Kristin - what the...?

By the way... you may have noticed the picture of Riki with a girl captioned "Riki dating..." It’s just that he’s been such a sexless monk for the last couple of years, it’s odd to see him spending time with a girl... like repeatedly... with the same one... really. Don’t get me wrong I’m nothing but happy for him. I don’t know if he’s gonna mention her in his journal or if there’s a future for their relationship... I’m just happy he’s getting to spend some quality time with someone other than Rosie. (Palmer) : )