Happy Halloween!

No special parties planned tonight... just a quiet dinner with some friends. I wasn't sure I was going to be home or not due to work so we decided against planning anything. We oringinally thought about a Halloween party, but we've been working a lot on our house lately and decided to hold off and maybe have a Winter party in December.

Beth and I have been working diligently these last two weeks on our house. We've gotten some new furniture, and even more exciting, we've got new flooring coming. I recently put Pergo style flooring in our bedroom and our office, and I plan on adding it to our guest room. Otherwise, the loft will soon have bamboo flooring and the downstairs will be all tile. Our goal is to have carpet on the stairs only for two reasons: 1) cats and 2) allergies. They both go hand in hand. It was our goal from the beginning to tile the downstairs, we've just taken it a step further.

We've accomplised a couple big projects and are now taking on our backyard for round two of landscaping. We started working on it in the spring and got a patio in and extended the sprinkler system from the front yard to the back, but that was it. We have a whole lot left to do. Today we're working on pulling these enormous weeds from the back fence thanks to our neighbors overwatering. Those things are nasty to eliminate. Round Up is my friend.

I helped Kanako yesterday move four tons of rock to her backyard. Her and Brad just recently got all the plants in and the final step was to put in the rock. It was nice to help them out with it because I got good ideas and how to for when Beth and I begin ours. We hope to have it well underway by Thanksgiving, but not necessarily done.

My parents were supposed to come this weekend, but they got too busy and decided to hold off. The good news with that is they are now coming for Thanksgiving. Brian and Rene will be here, too, but not until the Friday after. My parents say they'll be driving, most likely, and they are going to bring some furniture for us. My mom got Beth and I an antique armoir at an auction when we were in college. Since we moved in with Beth's parents when me moved to Vegas my parents decided to store it for us. Mom also has a pie safe she wants to keep, but wants to rotate out of her collection for a bit, so like a museum, Beth and I hope to have it for a while. If they do indeed drive, we hope to have them bring both pieces. Those will complete our house makeover.

The flight attendant I wrote about below has now been fired by Delta. She has already sought legal council and has a lawsuit int he works. Good for her... I can't believe Delta went to the extreme of suspending her, let alone firing her. I just hope, for her sake, she contacts the ACLU.
I'd especially like to know your opinions on this one, as I know some of my blogging friends are careful to avoid any problems at work with their blogs.

Delta suspends flight attendant for blogging...

I read on Airliners.net today, an aviation message board I frequent, that a Delta flight attendant was suspended last month for blogging her adventures as a flight attendant. Silly thing is, the flight attendant created an alter ego and even used fictional names for the airline she flies for, the name of the city she's based at and even fictional names of layover cities. Many of the stories themselves are fictional as well. The story has made it big as it was aired on the BBC in the U.K.

I am proud to say I voted yesterday! Of course I voted for John Kerry. I got my "I Voted" sticker, but I really wish it said, "I Voted for John Kerry!" I've thought about making my own somehow, and plastering it on everything. Following voting, Beth, Kanako and I headed to SoCal for a day of shopping at IKEA. This time we visited the one in Covina, which is the closest one to us here in Las Vegas. Covina is near Ontario. I really, really wish IKEA would build a store here in Vegas. I just love that place. We had a lot of fun and look forward to returning in another month or so.

It has been raining here in Vegas like you wouldn't believe. It rained here last week for an entire day, and it rained here nearly all day today and will rain again tomorrow. At one point, we even got hail! That is very unlikely for Las Vegas. Oddly, the temps are in the 40s now... brrrrrrrr... and there's lighting, lots of it. I usually equate lighting with summer storms, not storms when it's in the 40s. I saw on the weather tonight it was snowing quite a bit up on Mt. Charleston all the while thunder was rolling above. They say when it snows and thunders at the same time, you can expect A LOT of snow... as much as three feet by tomrrow on the mountain. Not so unusual... but for Vegas, very unusual. Wierd!

My parents may or may not be coming to Vegas this weekend. They already bought there plane tickets, but dad's work schedule is more hectic then anticipated and mom's got bronchitis. I hope they make it down, but I am pretty sure they won't. The good side is their coming to Vegas for Thanksgiving. Apprently Brian and Rene will be here, too, and are celebrating the holiday with her family on Friday, so we're going to celebrate on the actual holiday here at our house. I am excited for that as Beth and I are getting new flooring, and it will be finished just in time for T-day. It'll be nice to show it off to everyone.

I forgot to bid for my schedule next month. Sometimes a bad thing, sometimes a good thing. This time, a bad thing. I ended up with what we call an availability schedule, which means I am available to the company on days they determine. Those days have been determined, and they gave me Thanksgiving off. Thats the good part. But I have to build my own schedule on those days or let them assign them to me a day at a time. It's horrible for planning, and there aren't any trips for me to put on my schedule now so I can plan the month. I have a lot going on next month... I picked a bad month to forget to bid. Although I have Thanksgiving off, I am available the next day. I need to change that. We'll see how it goes.

Creepy...

My hometown newspaper is reporting that my tenth grade biology teacher, Mr. Booth, has been arrested on charges of having sex with a minor -- a 16 year old student. Ick. I guess I was about 16 when I was in his class. Now he's in jail waiting for arraignment. Kind of sad, really, considering he's been a teacher in the district for 28 years.

I don't get it...

If you are: pro-choice, anti-ban on gay marriage, pro-stem cell research, pro-environment, anti-Yucca Mountain, how could you possibly vote for George W. Bush? Oh, that's right, The War. I know of three people that are on the same page as I am on these issues, but because of the war, they are voting for Bush. I don't get it. What has Kerry said about Iraq that would make these people turn their backs on all their core values and beliefs just to support a Preisdent who misled the American people, furhter deteriorated public education and has taken us from a record surplus to a record deficit? The promise to finish what we've started in Iraq. News flash, we should be nearly finished there, but we are no closer to leaving Iraq then we were in March, 2003, when the war began.

This President has banned certain types of abortion, regardless of a doctor's imput, severly limited stem cell research, canceled, delayed, rolled back or underfunded over 300 pieces of legislation, policy and acts to protect the environment and has approved Yucca Mountain based on "sound science" that even the EPA questions. Oh, but wait, he's fighting the fight in Iraq.

Where have these pro-Bushers gotten the idea that he's handling everything in Iraq well. What has Kerry said he will or won't do in Iraq to make them think he'll do worse? I just don't get it. Last I knew, Kerry's position on Iraq has been, from the start of his campaign, is to finish it, not pull out. It seems to me Bush is too bull-headed to fix his mistakes and do what is necessary to get us out of there.

And then I hear comments like, "I don't know what's scarier, John Kerry as President or Teresa Heinz Kerry as First Lady." What the hell is that supposed to mean? Is that another reason to make yourself feel good for voting for Bush? I think these people think it's cool to vote for Bush, they think it isn't the trendy thing to do, so they feel like martyrs or something. I'd rather not vote on our President based on trends and what's popular, I'd rather vote for the President who has my core beliefs in mind.

Much ado about fondue...

Beth and I, along with Brad, Kanako and Amber all went to dinner on Thursday for my birthday at the Melting Pot. It's all about fondue and is a place we've been dying to try. It's a little pricey, so we decided to save it for just such an occasion. We opted for the King's Feast, which was a four course meal including two fondue appetizers, salads, two fondue cooking sauces and two fondue desserts. I like to call it an, "Adventure in fondue," because it truly is. Our meal, from start to finish, lasted just over three hours.

To start, we had two cheese fondues: The Wisconsin Trio and a basic cheddar fondue mixed with beer. Both were delicious and served with mixed bread pieces, veggies and apples for dipping. The salads were great, too, but totally unnecessary for this adventure. The entre fondues are actually cooking fondues in which you cook your own meat. The King's Feast includes a platter of teriyaki steak, filet mignon, chicken, tiger shrimp and pot stickers. You can choose from four cooking fondues, and we ended up with the Mojo (pronounced mo-ho) and the Coq au vin. The Mojo is very Caribbean with its central flavors being garlic and citrus (orange and lime). The Coq au vin was red wine based and included shallots, garlic and several herbs. Both used chicken broth. They were outstanding; Mojo was my absolute favorite.

Each meat item was to be cooked for two minutes, the shrimp and veggies that came with the entre for a minute and a half. It was a blast trying out the different entre items with the two fondues. We received several dipping sauces for when the meat was complete, but I hardly used those as the flavor from the fondue was plenty. I didn't want to cloud it with the other stuff.

For dessert we opted for the Banana's Foster fondue made with white chocolate and the S'mores fondue, made with milk chocolate, marshmallows and crushed graham crackers. We were served a platter of strawberries, pineapple, bananas, pound cake, cheese cake, brownies, marshmallows and graham crackers in which to dip in the fondue. It was out of this world.

The atmosphere was awesome. Everything, except the salads, was prepared right at the table. None of us walked out of there hungry, but since the meal took so long I wasn't stuffed. I certainly ate my fair share of food. I can't wait to go back.

Last week, or maybe it was the week before, Beth and I were fortunate enough to come upon some free Mystere tickets. One of her student's father works on the show and they offered Beth tickets for the 10:30pm show. It was late for a school night, but of course Beth and I couldn't resist. We both have seen the show before, but it's the type of show where you could never see it enough. I was thrilled to have the opportunity and enjoyed the show immensely. It just reminded me all the more when Jenn's here in February, I hope we can go see Zumanity, one of the other Cirque du Soleil shows here in town. Mystere was the original here, it was followed by "O" and then Zumanity. Soon, a new Cirque du Soleil show will open at the MGM called "Ka". I am sure to see it eventually.

My political one liner for this entry comes from "Real Time with Bill Maher": "Watching and listening to George W. Bush speak is like watching a drunk man cross an icy street." Laugh out loud funny! I loved it.