Here is some of the picture evidence of all the great times we had over the parent's visit from Denver. They include a great group shot of all of us at "Sport" in Seattle for my early B-day celebration, another nice group shot as we hit Aldwerwood Mall in all of it's holiday glory to kick off the shopping season, and one of me and my mother (notice the resemblance?) as we prepped for one of the meals at my apartment. What a great visit this was. In addition I get to look forward to heading to the Mile High city with a group of friends to see the Seahawks/Broncos game on this coming Sunday, what a treat!!
I had a great celebration spread out over the week for my 33rd B-day and got some great old-school Nintendo games and a movie (V for Vendetta) from Janelle, some great cards from John/Amy, and a video camera form the units!! I am pumped as I have wanted a new one for years having finally run down my old one. I love to videotape the v-ball and play around with the editing, another hobby I get to indulge in now!! I am sure you will be getting some examples of this once I have a chance to put something together to post on the blog....should be fun. Hope all is well out there and more to come after we get back from the snow in Denver!!

What a great visit from the parents for the Turkey-week festivities!! We started off right on Tuesday night by meeting at Red Robin for some goodies before they were off to bed for the night. The next day they picked me up after work and we went to my place and made a great chicken dinner for the whole crew including John, Amy, and Janelle. Always nice to have at least a few meals at home on vacation to hang out and talk in a very relaxed environment. We finished the night with a rousing game of Tribond which the parents one in a close battle!! The next day was Turkey-day for all as Amy, John, Janelle, and I gathered at the home of Kris and John Paulson for our usual feast...great food as always, thanks Kris!! We then headed out to catch the new James Bond film Casino Royale, kind of a prequel to the rest of the series and I thought very well done. A little more graphic then the usual 007 action but still very fun and fast paced. The parents had a great time for their turkey-day in Leavenworth visiting their close friends Dan and Mary Nelson and from all reports had a nice time. The next day we had another nice day as we picked up John at after work and proceeded from the to a nice lunch at McMenamin's Pub in the Queen Anne area which is always a favorite near Seattle Center. We then tried to hit the new exhibit with the Dead Sea Scrolls at Seattle Center but found it to be too popular for the holiday weekend and decided on another plan of attack. We ended up going downtown instead and hit another movie, this time the quirky Stranger then Fiction with Will Ferrell. I really liked this offbeat film, and thought Ferrell did a great job in a much more serious role for him, a lot like Jim Carrey in The Truman Show in my mind in terms of a performance. From there it was off to the house sitting locale of John and Amy as we had pizza and some beers to finish the night. Great times for all. Saturday was a slower pace and the Units (Mom and Dad) started us off right with breakfast at my place with mom's awesome pull-aparts and some hobo hash topped off with some sparkling cider, great way to start the weekend. From there we went to the Alderwood Mall to cruise around in all of the Holiday glory. We picked up a few choice items and then it was back to the house for a quick change and on to the next event. This was a great one as we had a suite arrange for dinner and a show at a really fun downtown nightspot, the Triple Door. While we were there we dined on some awesome Pad Thai and duck (Amy's favorite) before enjoying a slightly mellow set with one of our regional favorites The Paperboys. They finished their performance with a funky twist as all the lights were out they had on suits with glow sticks, all appearing at stick figures for their final 2 songs, very fun. Many of our friends were able to join us for the evening and we had a great group of 12-15 people for most of the night in our suite. Huge props go out to Dave Hoadley (And his friend Kim from the venue) for helping set up the room for the evening. Sunday was more fun as we hit Sport in downtown Seattle for my early B-day celebration and went from there to the Music of Disney exhibit at the EMP in Seattle Center. Fun way to spend the day with those I love about me. We finished the night meeting our good friends the Nickols at Best Wok in Bellevue, one of my parents all-time favorite Chinese food locales. Nice to catch up with them after having played v-ball at my turkey tournament with their sons Eric and Ryan. I finished up my parent's visit yesterday as we had lunch at one of my favorites Zeena's before they met John and Amy for Monday Night Football to watch the Seahawks beat the Packers on the frozen tundra of Qwest Field!?! A great adventure and some memorable moments as always when the Weaver's gather. I am looking forward to heading in just a few short days to the Denver area to see the Hawks play the Bronco's in the Mile High City and stay at the parent's house this time. Man I love this season!!

A quick update after a whirlwind weekend for me. Friday night I was at friend's Steve Weinrich and Rachel's house for a really fun party they threw. Everyone was supposed to dress in old formal wear from prom or bridesmaid fashion-style. Janelle went in a stunning green number complete with fake rhinestone at the waist on a large bow. I had a green jacket, plaid pants, suspenders and a very nice brown tie. Good times with good people as we were able to see Jesse Paulson, Mark Kadlec, Tim Hamman, Kiera Bholes, and many others. Saturday was spent getting final details ready for my turkey event for Sunday. I also managed to watch the disappointing Cougar game at a friends house (Thanks for hosting Jason Nap!!) with many sympathetic cougar faithful. Good times despite the loss to the hated Dawgs!! That's what you get for playing so sloppy I guess. Sunday was my 1st annual coed 6's Turkey-ball tournament at Sammamish High school in Bellevue. We packed 15 eager teams into the 3 courts and had a blast. I surprised my team with a set of personalized jerseys for everyone and had a really nice time with all the faces, new and old. A ton of people came out of the woodwork that I have not seen in ages or ever before, which was one of the main objectives for the event and something I am really proud of. For the most part it ran just right on time with some great competition by the end for all with really close games all the way around. All but one of the 15 teams won at least one game!! Pretty rare when that happens and it goes to show you how close things were across the board. I was a little bummed as my team did not fair quite as well. We did finish 4-4 on the day which was nice and were probably right in the middle play-wise. I continue to struggle running and playing in the same tournaments, I overwhelm myself which leads to a pretty short fuse on my end of things and some outbursts that I am always trying to limit. In any case, I managed to raise ~$1000 for the volleyball program at my Alma mater and get 5 packed boxes worth of non-perishable food items as donation for the local food bank charity Northwest Harvest for the holiday season. Not to shabby for a days worth of work I guess. I can use ALL the karma I can get these days it seems like. All for now, I will try and post some pictures from the events when I have the chance.

Well we are now in the throes of my favorite season!!! Why you ask? Hard to say if it is the gorgeous turning of colors, the fact that my B-day (#33) is this month (29th), the turkey and goodies on the horizen, or just the middle of the football season. In any case I love it all. My walks to work in the morning are some of the best with that crisp feel in the air. The Madman/Moxie Turkey-tournament is just around the corner. We have had a HUGE response, forcing us to expand the field with still almost a month left. Now with it being only a week away plans are in full gear. I am also wrapping up all of my league play for this round in the Seattle area. I had a dissappointing finish in the reverse 4's league as we finished the season #1 and then managed to drop our first playoff match in a 1-2 heartbreaker. Oh well. I can take solice in the fact that with 2 weeks remaining my men's league has us in the lead and looking like we will repeat as champions. In addition my coed 6's squad came out on top last night for a big league championship. We went all out for this one with headbands and gear abounding. I of course would not allow myself to be topped and appeared with special facial tatoos for one night only!! Amy McKenna was unable to play due to some eye work that day but showed up and supported the team and managed to get in the picture as "Pirate Amy". Check it out, yeeaaaarrrggg!!! I also had a chance to see the Seahawks take on the dreaded Raiders on Monday Night Football at Qwest Field. Here is a picture from the kickoff after the final score in the 4th quarter by the Seachickens. I had a blast and have my bro to thank for all of the tix. On that note we plan to head to the all-important divisional game versus the Rams on Sunday, go Hawks!!! I also recently attended the B-day/housewarming party for good friend Stacey Dozono, she is on the coed 6's team with me. Her apartment looked great and many familiar faces were there, I even got to hold Chantelle and Mark's new baby Landon!! Good times abound and I am sure they will continue as we hit stride in what is my favorite time of the year!!